


All in the (Skywalker) Family

by reylly_obiwan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Original Fiction, Sibling Bonding, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 55,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9299285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylly_obiwan/pseuds/reylly_obiwan
Summary: What if, despite popular opinion, Anakin Skywalker isn’t a “child of the force?” What if he has a biological father? What if he has siblings, fellow powerful Skywalkers, who are alive somewhere in the galaxy? This story is about Anakin running into his sibling and the aftermath of having two people so powerful together.***I do not own the rights to any of Star Wars or any of these characters, this is purely fictional work***





	1. Chapter 1

***Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis***

The Battle of Geonosis has just commenced. Though the Jedi won, the war continues to rage on, and Dooku remains undefeated. Anakin is dealing with his robotic arm, and attempting to learn to fight without it. Obi-Wan is working closely with Mace and Yoda to develop battle strategies and missions to finally defeat Dooku. The Jedi are running out of strategies to destroy him. Yoda decides that Obi-Wan and Anakin need to go on a mission to Naboo to negotiate an alliance with Apailana and the people of Naboo, as they needed resources from the planet.  
“Yes, Master Yoda, I understand the mission. Me and Anakin will depart shortly.” Obi-Wan said.  
“Healed enough for a mission, your Padawan is?” Yoda inquired.  
“I believe so. He is getting impatient waiting around with nothing to accomplish.” Obi-Wan responded.  
“Hmm. Careful with his temper, he must be. Leave shortly, you should.” Yoda said thoughtfully. Obi-Wan bowed respectfully and left the room to find Anakin. He found him in the infirmary, yelling at a jedi healer about his hand.  
“It’s not grasping like it’s supposed to! My hand can’t close around my saber like it used to! You need to fix something!” Anakin yelled.  
“Anakin! Calm yourself. Your mind will take time to register your new hand as part of you. We’re going to Naboo, now. We have a mission.” Obi-Wan said sternly. Anakin looked as if he was about to continue his fight with the healer but saw Obi-Wan’s face and scowled before walking away.  
“What has gotten into you, Padawan? Have you lost your sense of respect? Those healers are the reason you’re still a jedi at all!” Obi-Wan yelled once they had left the earshot of the infirmary.  
“I’m sorry, Master,” Anakin said. “I just get so frustrated with this stupid arm. I feel like I’ve lost part of my connection to the force. It’s so infuriating.”  
“Nonsene, Anakin. Give it time. For now, let’s focus on the job ahead of us. We are going to Naboo to meet with Apailana. Naboo has some of the essential resources we need to strengthen our shields for our new battleships. I want you to get a ship ready for us to leave in half an hour. Understood?”  
“Yes, Master. See you shortly.”  
Obi-Wan watched his Padawan walk away with a concerned expression. Ever since their fight with Dooku, he had been filled with a lot more anger, and he seemed to be getting more frustrated with his training and especially his fighting. Obi-Wan made a mental note to talk to Yoda about it when they returned from Naboo.

***

Anakin and Obi-Wan are on their way to Naboo to meet with the planet’s leaders and discuss a trade and alliance to aid the jedi with the war. However, as the jedi arrive on Naboo, disaster strikes in the form of a stray asteroid hitting their ship. The laser cannon and secondary engine are destroyed in the hit and Anakin has to make an emergency landing to avoid crashing. The two land on the desolate forests of Naboo, leaving them little to no chance of fixing their ship without help.  
“Anakin! I told you to come out of hyperspace earlier! Why do you need to fly so impulsively?!? You could’ve gotten us killed! Now look at our brok--”  
“Alright! I’m sorry! I was just trying to get us here faster!”  
“Well you’ve certainly done that! We’re exactly where we need to be, aren’t we? Anakin! Anakin!” Obi-Wan looks over to see his apprentice staring intently ahead of him.  
“What is it, Padawan?” Obi-Wan inquired.  
“I-I-I sense something. Someone. Someone is around here.” Anakin says apprehensively.  
Obi-Wan looks around and searches within the force for whatever Anakin senses, but finds nothing.  
“I sense nothing. Can we get back to the problem at hand now, Anakin? What are we going to do about this ship?”  
Anakin walks away, ignoring Obi-Wan entirely, toward a grassy cliff a few yards ahead of him. He closes his eyes and feels the force flowing around him, and strongly in front of him. His eyebrows furrow.  
“Master, I’m telling you, someone is here. I feel a strong presence coming from over there.” Anakin says, pointing at a field across the cliff. As he goes closer to the edge, he gasps.  
“Master, there’s a bridge up here that appears to be man-made! Someone must be around here somewhere!”  
As Obi-Wan hesitantly walks toward Anakin, a strong feeling overcomes him and he too senses the presence of another living thing. The two carefully cross the bridge and continue their search for the mysterious presence.

From inside her home, underground, the girl senses them too.  
***

 


	2. Chapter 2

Anakin and Obi-Wan are walking around their landing site in Naboo, searching for an unknown presence in the force. From inside her home, a girl named Alaney gears up as she senses others outside of her home. After a few moments of tense waiting, she grabs her fight staff and silently climbs outside. From behind a rock she eyes to men in robes. Jedi? Scavengers? Something is striking about one of the men, something she cannot quite identify. His face is almost...familiar. She sees a ship across the cliff that appears to be severely damaged. She searches within her feelings and finds no threat or negativity coming from the men. Slowly, she climbs into sight and begins approaching them.

Alaney stares at the men until one sees her and is slightly taken aback.  
“Oh! Hello, my name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, we come in peace. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you just come from?”  
Alaney studies the man next to him, searching for what it is that’s familiar about him.  
“My home. May I ask what you’re doing here?” Alaney continues to stare at the silent man, who appears younger than the man doing the talking. He’s quiet, and seems as if he knows he’s not allowed to talk.  
“We were flying in to Naboo’s central port for a meeting. Unfortunately, my friend here got us into a bit of trouble during our flight and we had to crash-land. Our ship is in dire need of repair. Do you know of any way to help us? Are your parents around here, girl?”  
“First of all, my name is Alaney. You don’t have to call me girl.” Alaney said, sounding annoyed. The silent man smirks, and Obi-Wan’s face changes a bit, looking confused, but Alaney softens her tone. “There’s nobody around here except me, but I can help you with your ship. I’m good with repair and I’ve got plenty of tools around.”   
“Alaney, thank you. We would be much obliged. Where is it that you live?”   
“It’s just down here, follow me.”  
Anakin looks at Obi-Wan with one eyebrow raised. Obi-Wan shrugs back and follows the girl until he spots an opening in the ground with a ladder attached. The girl climbs down with ease and disappears out of sight. Obi-Wan follows, and is amazed at what he sees below the ground. An entire house, the size of several sleeping quarters, is fully built and structurally sound. He sees several rooms branching off, a technology station, and a tool bench.  
“Anakin, look at this. This is amazing!” Obi-Wan says in awe.  
Alaney whips her head around and stares at Obi-Wan.  
“WHAT did you just call him?” she asks, looking completely stunned.  
“This is Anakin, Anakin Skywalker.” Obi-Wan responds.  
“Oh...oh my...we have a lot to talk about.”  
Alaney sat down in the living room of the house and motioned for the jedi to join her. She stared intently at Anakin before beginning to speak.  
“This is going to sound like a lot, and it is, and I have proof if it begins to sound so insane that you can’t believe it.” Alaney begins. Anakin stared back at her, deeply intrigued.  
“My name is Alaney...Alaney Skywalker. My mother’s name was Shmi and my father’s name was Von Foda.” Anakin’s face changes from that of intrigue to utter shock. He interrupts, “Wh-a-at? How? Are you saying you’re my...sister?”  
“My father told me I had a brother. Shortly after I was born, scavengers from the Outer Rim invaded this desolate part of Naboo. They didn’t want anything to do with me since I was only a few months old, and my father had a limp from an old injury--he could barely walk. They took Shmi, my mother, a-and you, I guess. Anakin Skywalker. The boy our father never stopped missing. Wow.” Alaney and Anakin stared into each other's’ eyes. Alaney finally understood why she felt the safe familiarity upon first seeing him, and Anakin felt a strangely warm pull towards her in the force. As he sat speechless, Alaney pulled out a faded picture from her pocket and handed it to him. He looked at it and gasped. There he was, staring at 4 year old version of himself in a man’s arms, next to his mother who was holding an infant child.   
“Oh my god. This is my father? What happened to him? Where is he now?” Anakin asked desperately.   
“He, uh, he died two years ago. I’m sorry. He got sick and we’re nowhere near enough to a village to get him to a doctor. He couldn’t walk himself, and I couldn’t leave him long enough to go myself.” Alaney responded. There was a period of silence before Alaney looked up and timidly asked, “What about Shmi? Our mom?”  
“I-uh, I haven’t seen her years. We were both slaves, but I left with Obi-Wan when I was nine to become a--”  
“Anakin!” Obi-Wan shouted through the force. “Be careful what you reveal right now. I know this is a lot to take in, but be careful.”  
“Master, this girl is my sister. You know how long I’ve been searching for the truth about my family. I-I I want to tell her everything so that she’ll give me the answers I’m looking for.”  
Alaney cleared her throat, and the two jedi turned their attention back toward her.   
“I know you’re both jedi, and I’ll answer whatever questions you have.” She raised an eyebrow at them in satisfaction. “Yeah, I can hear you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Alaney,” Obi-Wan began in awe. “Are you telling us you're force sensitive like your brother?”  
“Yeah. My dad called it force inclined but I guess it's the same thing. He told me all about jedi’s and the force. He never said anything about Anakin having it, but I guess he didn't know him long enough to notice.”  
“Could he use the force as well?” Anakin interjected.  
“No. Not really. He was always amazed that I was.”  
Obi-Wan sat thoughtfully for a moment before saying, “Show me.”  
Before he could blink, Alaney held out her hand and Anakin’s lightsaber flew toward her and landed in her palm. The jedi stared in amazement at the girl before them. She was certainly force sensitive, and she was certainly a Skywalker, because no one should've been able to take Anakin’s saber out of his belt but him.  
“Amazing.” Obi-Wan stated. “Alaney, if you wouldn't mind, could you come take a look at our ship now? If you're anything like your brother I'm sure the two of you can fix it in no time.”  
“Yeah, sure. Let me just grab my tools.” Alaney responded.  
Alaney ran over to a tool bench nearby and grabbed an armful of various supplies. The trio climbed outside and headed toward the broken ship. As they walked, Obi-Wan noticed the now obvious similarities between the two siblings. They walked in a similar fashion, stood with the same kind of confidence, and had a similar pull in the force towards both of them. Once they reached the ship, Alaney shook her head and smiled.  
“Who landed this ship?” she asked.  
“Me…” Anakin responded sheepishly.  
“I could’ve flown this thing better than you, Anakin. The gravity flux compensator is blown. And the shield lense is almost damaged beyond repair. Aside from the cosmetic damage, too.”  
“Hey! I’d like to see you land better without a lateral stabilizer! I couldn’t have foreseen the asteroid field that knocked it out.”  
“Eh...you probably just weren’t paying attention. I could've avoided it.”  
Anakin rolled his eyes and the two got to work on fixing the ship. A few hours later, they had made great progress and most of the severe damage was repaired. Anakin left Alaney working to check on what Obi-Wan was doing.  
“Hey Master.” Anakin said to a focused Obi-Wan.  
“Hello, Padawan. How’s the ship?”  
“It’s certainly coming along, Master.”  
Obi-Wan waited for Anakin to say more, but he fell silent. Obi-Wan could sense there was something else on his mind.  
“Anakin, what is it?” he asked.  
“I-uh, I don’t know how to say this,” he responded hesitantly. “But um, I want Alaney to come back with us. I just can’t believe that we landed here on this empty part of Naboo, of all places, and the only other being around us turned out to be my sister. It’s insane. I feel like I’ve known her all my life even though I’ve just met her. There’s so much of a connection in between us, within the force. I can’t stand the thought of not getting to know her now.”  
“Well Padawan, I’ve been thinking about this the entire time you’ve been out there. She is clearly very strong with the force, and practically, she should be trained. Her force stealth is not well concealed and should anyone powerful come near her I’m sure they would sense it. But, Anakin, she does live here. Who knows if she would even want to come with us?”  
The thought of a sith coming in contact with his sister sickened Anakin.  
“I understand, Master. But may I please at least ask her?”  
“Let me send a transmission to Master Yoda first. I’ll need to discuss this with him before we move forward.”  
“Yes, Master.” Anakin bowed slightly and left the ship. He walked around the outside of the ship and found Alaney cleaning up her tools.  
“You’re done?!” he asked.  
“Yeah, all done. It wasn’t really that much. It looked worse than it was.”  
“How’d do you learn to do this?”  
“My--sorry--our dad taught me. He was really good with this kinda stuff.”  
Anakin nodded and smiled before helping Alaney clean up her tools. He imagined what his dad must’ve been like while Alaney wondered what her mom was like.  
***Meanwhile, inside the ship***

Obi-Wan paced around the inside of the ship waiting for Yoda to answer his transmission. He was lost in thought and was trying to calm his mind and process all this new information. Suddenly, the hologram flashed on.  
“Greetings, Obi-Wan.” Yoda said.  
Obi-Wan bowed deeply.  
“Greetings, Master Yoda.”  
“Productive, your mission is? Accomplished much, you have?” Yoda inquired.  
“Well, no, actually. You see Master Yoda, our ship had some technical difficulties and we were forced to postpone our mission to fix it. Upon landing, we discovered something absolutely incredible.”  
“What’s that, Obi-Wan?”  
“We met a girl here on Naboo. As it turns out, this girl is Anakin’s sister. She is very, very strong with the force. I have not sensed such a presence since my first time meeting young Anakin.”  
“Anakin’s sister, she is? Related by both mother and father, is she?”  
“Yes, Master Yoda. She is his full sibling.”  
“Most fascinating! If strong force presence, she has, trained, she must be! Asset to us, she could become!”  
“So you would like me to bring her back to the temple?”  
“Meet her, I must. Accomplish the rest of the mission, you must as well.”  
“Understand, Master Yoda. We will resume our mission as quickly as possible.” Obi-Wan bowed and ended the transmission. The weight of what he had to do hit him hard.  
What if Alaney had no interest in going with them?  
What if they couldn’t convince her to go, and as a result, the Sith got to her?  
He decided to meditate before talking to Anakin. He slipped into a subconscious state and felt the force flowing around him. It comforted him, as he felt Anakin and Alaney’s presences swirling around in symbiotic harmony. They blended as if they were one and he could feel the bonding between them. He focused his mind on positive energy in the hopes that his confrontation with Alaney would go the way he wanted it, needed it, to.


	4. Chapter 4

Obi-Wan left the ship to find Alaney. When he got outside, the siblings had left their post by the ship and were nowhere in sight. Obi-Wan spoke through his force bond to Anakin. “Padawan, where are you?”  
“I’m inside Alaney’s house. She’s showing me old pictures and stuff.”  
“Okay, can you tell her to come talk to me for moment please?”  
“Why, is something wrong? I’m coming too.”  
“No, Padawan. Just send her please.”  
“Yes, Master.”   
Moments later, Alaney climbed out from the inside of the house and walked over to Obi-Wan.  
“Alaney, may we speak inside the ship?”  
“Sure?” she responded, sounding a little confused.   
The two sat down inside the ship and Obi-Wan paused, searching for the right way to ask this looming question.   
“You’re aware that Anakin and I live in what’s called the Jedi Temple, yes?” Alaney nodded.  
“Well, very often, people who have children that seem to be force sensitive bring their children to us at the temple in the hopes that they can become jedi. What we do when they get there is test something called a midi-chlorian count. Midi-chlorians are microscopic life forms that live inside of all of us, and they help jedi connect and speak to the force. The thing is, Alaney, when I met your brother for the first time as a little boy I was stunned by the presence he had in the force. My old master tested your brothers count and it was off the charts, one of the highest ever seen. Seeing as you two are full siblings, it would be most interesting to check your count.” Obi-Wan stared expectantly at her, waiting for an answer.  
“Yeah, sure. Sounds good to me.” She replied  
“Well, it’s not exactly that simple. You need to be at the jedi temple to test it. As I’m sure your count would be high, I would like you to come back with us and meet with the Jedi Council. If it is so, you should be trained so that your power does not transform into the wrong form of energy.”  
“The wrong form of energy? What does that mean, like evil?”  
“More like negative energy rather than evil. Well you are far too old to train to become a jedi, I’m sure you could train to get a good handle on your powers and avoid anything bad happening to you.”  
Alaney was quiet for a minute, thinking.   
“I would love to come back with you guys, I really would. But this is my father’s house.” she said, gesturing to the outside area. “I promised him when he died that I would protect it. I don’t know what to do.”   
“I understand. However, from what you’ve told me about your father, he seems like man of good honor who fought for what was best for you and your brother. He knew you could use the force, and I’m sure he would want you to be able to embrace the extent of your power.” Obi-Wan’s thoughts swirled darkly as he thought more and more about what would happen if the Sith got to her. He mentally put up his shields so that she wouldn’t sense the negativity filling his brain. Finally, after a long pause, Alaney spoke again.  
“Obi-Wan, do you really think it’s right? This is just such an insane day. I woke up this morning like any other and now the day’s ending and I’ve met my missing brother and he’s a jedi and just--it’s kinda crazy.”  
Obi-Wan was a bit taken aback at hearing her use his name, as he hadn’t all day. She really did not know what to do.   
“Alright, how about we do this. Anakin and I have our mission to complete on the other side of Naboo. If we leave now, we would probably be back late tomorrow. Do you want to think it over and decide tomorrow?”  
“Yeah, yeah, definitely. That sounds really good. Thank you, Obi-Wan. Am I supposed to call you that? Do jedi get some formal title?”  
Obi-Wan smiled at the girl's sincerity.  
“Obi-Wan is just fine. Can you go get your brother for me, please?”  
“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”  
“See you tomorrow.”   
Obi-Wan watched her walk out and breathed a sigh of relief. Not the exact result of what he wanted, but certainly still plenty of hope that it would turn out right.   
************************************  
Obi-Wan had informed Anakin about the plan for the mission and were on their way. They had been flying in silence for a few minutes when Anakin spoke.   
“Do you think she’s going to come back with us? I don’t want to leave here if she doesn’t.”  
“Nonsense, Padawan. You are not going to stop training so close to your trials. She may want to, she may not. Just because she is your sister doesn’t mean you can expect her to uproot her life and come with us.”  
Anakin fell silent and flew the rest of the trip without speaking.   
When they arrived at the city of Theed, they landed in the ship port and headed into their meeting, still barely talking. Throughout the meeting, there was a bit of rising tension between their force bond. The meeting and subsequent meetings took most of the day. When the two were finally done, and completed their diplomatic responsibility, they returned to the ship. Obi-Wan sensed Anakin’s anxiety as if it was his own.  
“Padawan, go meditate.” he said to Anakin.  
“Don’t you want me to fly?” he responded.   
“No, I’ll fly. Go meditate. And focused meditation, please.”  
“Yes, Master.”   
Obi-Wan plugged the coordinates in for Alaney’s house and hoped that his Padawan would have a good meditation session. Anakin had hated meditating as long as he could remember, possibly because it hadn’t been instilled in him as early as other jedi. He always refused to do any more meditation than was asked of him and never seemed to slip into the truly blissful state he should have. Perhaps this was the reason for his impulsiveness and quick anger. Obi-Wan stayed lost in thought for a while until Anakin reappeared.  
“Did you have a nice meditation, Padawan?” he inquired.   
“Nice-ish.”   
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, knowing this was the most of a response he would get from Anakin.  
“We’ll be arriving shortly, Anakin. Remember, whatever happens, try to stay calm. It is only after we have control over our own emotions that we have any right to influence the emotions of others.” Anakin nodded silently as the ship landed.  
“Alright, let’s go.” Anakin said, and sprung out of his seat, ready as he’d ever be.


	5. Chapter 5

Just as the ship landed, Alaney sensed her brother’s nearness. She nervously started pacing across her living room before gathering up the courage to go outside.  

Inside the ship, Anakin paced back and forth while Obi-Wan watched him. 

“Are you going to calm down, Anakin?” he asked.

“No. Not really.”

“Relax, Padawan. Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. Do you want me to go?” 

“No, no, no. I want to go. Alone.”

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow in suspicion but kept quiet. 

“Alright, I’m going. I’m going. I’ll be back.”

Obi-Wan watched his padawan leave the ship and hoped he wasn’t going to come back alone. 

 

“Alaney?” Anakin asked cautiously, unsure of what he felt in the force. 

“Yeah, come on down.” she answered.

Anakin climbed the ladder to her house and, much to his relief, saw her holding a bag with another one at her feet. 

“You’re coming?!” he yelled, smiling ear to ear. She smiled back but looked much less enthused.    
“I’m coming with you. But I’m freaked out, alright? I don’t know that I’m making the right choice here.”

“You are, I promise you are. This is gonna be so great. This is what our parents would’ve wanted, Laney. Can I call you Laney? That sounds like something a big brother would call you.” Now she laughed and shared some of Ani’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, you can call me Laney if you help me carry these bags out to the ship.”

“Deal.” Anakin picked up her bags and started walking out, expecting her to follow. He turned his head and saw her standing in place, looking around. 

“I’m coming. Just give me sec, okay? I gotta close some stuff up.”

“Yeah. Take your time. We’ll be waiting in the ship.” Anakin climbed up and out and Alaney started wistfully at her house. 

_ Should I be leaving? Is this what Dad would’ve wanted? I know he would’ve wanted me to meet Anakin, but would he have wanted me to become a jedi? Am I even becoming a jedi? What am I doing? _

Alaney went into each room one last time and made sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She looked at her dad’s old room, his bed made and his things as organized as he left them years ago. She picked up a sculpted heart she had made her dad when he got sick that he had never once put down until the day he died. 

She knelt by the bed and held the heart, crying softly.

“I hope you’re safe dad. I miss you, I love you, and I hope you think I’m making the right choice.” With that, she kissed the heart and left the room. She took a deep breath and climbed out of the ladder. She covered the opening with the fake boulder she had build a while ago and hoped no one would find her house while she was gone. She walked over to the ship and took one last glance back. 

_ No turning back now _ , she thought. 

She climbed on board and Anakin ran up and hugged her, sensing her saddened emotions.

“It’s okay, Laney. We’re family, and now we’re together.”

She smiled and nodded and went to the front of the ship where Obi-Wan was sitting, waiting for take off.

“Hey, Obi-Wan.” she said to him.

“Hi, Alaney. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” 

“Anakin, are you flying?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Obviously. Let’s go.”

The ship launched into space and Alaney looked down at Naboo for what she feared was the last time. She felt Obi-Wan’s hand on her shoulder. It was strangely comforting, and she realized how long she had been without other people since her dad died. She smiled at Obi-Wan and he nodded back. The ship launched into hyperspace and Alaney gaped in awe. 

“Look at all these stars! This is insane! Can you always see this many stars when you fly?” she asked.

Anakin laughed and Obi-Wan was reminded of his first time flying with Anakin as a little boy.

“This isn’t even a good system, Laney. Wait till I show you the Elrod Sector.”

“Not today, Anakin.” Obi-Wan chuckled. Alaney continued staring at the galaxy around her. 

“Is this your first time flying, Alaney?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Nah. I mean, I’ve flown around Naboo in stuff I built before. But this is my first time flying in space off of Naboo.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Completely. What does the planet we’re going to look like?”

“Coruscant? No, it’s pretty different. It’s a little bit more developed.”   
“Pfft.” Anakin interrupted. “Coruscant is a little more than “developed”. It’s basically one giant city. There’s no mountains and fields and oceans like Naboo.”

Alaney’s face fell. 

“That’s too bad. Where are you supposed to run around and explore and stuff?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll do plenty of exploring. We don’t have to do it on Coruscant. We’ll go to Hoth and see snow, and we’ll go to Endor to really explore nature. That’s the beauty of being able to fly around the galaxy. You can see whatever you want.”

Alaney smiled at Anakin’s remark and Obi-Wan beamed with pride at his padawan’s wise words of comfort toward his sister. 

The trio continued flying in peaceful silence. Anakin flew, Obi-Wan meditated, and Alaney continued to be amazed by the sights of the galaxy.


	6. Chapter 6

“Alright, Laney, see that glowing ball up there?” Anakin asked.

“Yeah.” she answered, a hint of questioning in her voice. 

“That’s Coruscant!”

“Oh jeez. It looks like a giant meteor. Is it really all city?”

“Pretty much, yeah. But the area around the temple is a little less crowded.”

“Well that’s good. Do you go around the planet a lot? Or do you just stick to the temple area?”

“Oh me and Obi-Wan are always going all over doing missions and stuff. I’ve probably been to every block of this planet, twice.” he said, exaggerating to sound impressive.

“Well, here we are. Obi-Wan, I’m preparing to land.” Obi-Wan appeared from the back of ship, nodding approvingly. 

“Land in Port 2, Anakin.” Anakin steered into the port and turned off the ship’s engine. 

“Anakin, service the ship and then bring everything in, alright?”

Anakin rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly.

“What am I, a mule?” he muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” 

Obi-Wan sent a stern glare at the back of Anakin’s head but his padawan continued to face forward and ignore him. 

“Alaney, come inside with me. We’re going to go to the healer and get the testing done.” Obi-Wan said to Alaney.

“Alrighty. See ya later, Ani.”

“Mhm, see ya.”

Obi-Wan walked out with Alaney following close behind and the two headed toward the entrance. As they walk into the temple, Alaney seems amazed by its’ vastness and grandeur. 

“This place is beautiful.” she whispered.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Everything is so perfect together. The sculpting on the columns, the colors engraved into the stone, it’s like a masterpiece of art.”

Obi-Wan smiled brightly at her, thrilled to be talking to someone who shared such an admiration for the temple. They walked for several minutes before arriving at Healer Agistel’s ward. Obi-Wan knocked twice and heard a friendly “Come in!” before entering.

“Hello, Healer Agistel. How are you?”

“Hey! Master Kenobi! My favorite jedi master. I’m well. Come in, come in. How’s it going? You coming back from a mission? How’s little Ani?” the healer asked, firing question after question. 

Obi-Wan chuckled. “Yes, Anakin and I are just back from a mission. That’s what I’ve come here to discuss with you.” Obi-Wan stepped aside to reveal Alaney standing behind him.

“Hi, Obi-Wan’s little friend! Who might you be?”    
Alaney giggled before answering. 

“I’m Alaney. I’m Ani’s little sister.” The healer’s mouth fell open and he stared at Alaney in shock.    
“Ani has a little sister?! Whaaaat? Since when? Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything? How long you been keeping this from me, Master Kenobi?!”

“Calm down, my friend.” Obi-Wan replied, his voice full of amusement. “I only met her a few days ago myself. We met her while we were on Naboo.”

The healer looked incredibly excited and he reached out to shake her hand.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Little Laney. I call your brother Ani so I gotta call you something too. How old are you?”

“I’m 15.”

“Ahh, five years younger than Ani! How sweet is this! Are you here to visit or what?”

Obi-Wan interrupted before Alaney could respond.

“Well, Healer, there is something I need to ask you. Will you test her midi-chlorian count? She’s force sensitive like Anakin and the council wants to know how high her count is.”

“Oh, sure, yeah! What a family! The Skywalker Jedi! You guys oughta start a crime fighting family league!”

Alaney and Obi-Wan both laughed.

“Alright, alright, come here little Skywalker. This’ll only take a second.” 

Healer Agistel took a quick sample of her blood before walking over to a machine and putting it through a scanner. 

“I’m gonna pull up Ani’s count to compare, okay?”

“Whatever you think, Healer. This is your area of expertise.”

The healer clicked a few buttons and and stared at the screen, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.    
“How?” he muttered.

“What is it?” Obi-Wan asked. 

“There’s gotta be a mistake here. I’m gonna run it through again.” The healer moved quickly and repeated the process. He stared at it again, shaking his head. 

“Well, okay, here’s the deal. Ani’s count, the highest we’ve ever seen, is around 27,000. Laney’s here is upwards of 30,000. I can’t believe it.I’ve never even thought of this as being possible for one living thing. Master Kenobi, you’ve got quite a little jedi here. This is an insanely high count. Wow-I just-wow. I would never have believed this was possible. Wow.”

Obi-Wan was stunned speechless. Thoughts swirled around his head.

_ How is this possible? How can such a young, untrained, child have such a high count? Even higher than Anakin’s? Who knows what she could be capable of? _

Finally, his voice shaking, Obi-Wan responded to the healer. 

“Thank you, Healer Agistel. Can you please save the records and send the scan over to the council? That’s where we’re headed next.”

“Certainly, Master Kenobi. I’ll do it right now.”

“Thank you, Healer. Alaney, follow me.”   
Alaney silently followed Obi-Wan out, feeling the healer's eyes boring into the back of her head, probably still full of shock. She grew nervous as she walked with Obi-Wan and finally broke the silence.

“Obi-Wan?”

“Yes?”

“What just happened? Why were you both so freaked out?”

“No, no. Not freaked out. We were just surprised. Neither of us has ever seen a count that high.”

“Is it bad?”

“No, of course not. It’s not bad or dangerous or anything negative. It just means you’re more force sensitive than any known living thing.” Obi-Wan reassured her, not realizing the weight of his words.

“The MOST force sensitive person ever?! What kind of pressure does that put on me?!” Alaney questioned.    
“Alaney, it’s okay. There’s no pressure on you. It’s just big news, alright?”   
“Alright.” 

Obi-Wan stopped walking as they reached the door to the council. 

“Alaney, listen to me. You’re about to get asked a lot of questions. And this might be a little overwhelming. But stay calm, okay? Everyone in there is just very curious about all of this.”

Alaney nodded and followed Obi-Wan in. She saw a huge circular room with the walls covered in windows. There were people, well, people and creatures sitting in a big circle. Some were people, some were aliens, and one looked like a little green toad. 

She followed Obi-Wan until he stopped in the middle of the room. The little green toad spoke first.

“Greetings, Master Obi-Wan! Next to you, Little Skywalker is?” 

“Yes, Master Yoda. Everyone, this is Alaney.”

Many of the people in the circle offered her greetings. She smiled back shyly and Yoda continued.

“Greetings, young Skywalker! Honor to have you here, it is. Information, you have, Obi-Wan?”

“Yes, Master. Healer Gistel has tested her and discovered her midi-chlorian count is well over 30,000. The highest he’s ever seen. Higher than Anakin.”

Several members of the council gasped, and even Yoda’s face showed hints of surprise. 

“How can that be?” Mace Windu asked. “How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know, honestly.” Obi-Wan answered. 

“Hmm. Much discussion about this, we must have.” Yoda said thoughtfully. 

“Yes, we must discuss this in depth, as well as it’s possible repercussions. Alaney, would you mind stepping out for a minute? There are some things we need to discuss with Obi-Wan.”   
Alaney nodded and walked out, unsure of how to address anyone. To her surprise, she found Anakin waiting right outside the door.    
“There you are!” he said. “I’ve been looking for you and Obi-Wan for like, an hour! What’s going on in there?” he gestured with his hand toward the council.

“I don’t know, everyone’s acting all weird and secretive and they told me to leave so they can talk to Obi-Wan. Is that a bad sign?”

“I dunno. Probably not. They’re always weird and secretive around me. Maybe it’s a Skywalker thing.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

The two slowly sank down and sat against the wall, waiting for something to happen.


	7. Chapter 7

***Inside the Jedi Council***

Mace Windu spoke first.

“I mean, something obviously has to be done about the girl. Look at Anakin. We started training him too late, at 9, and it’s obviously had its effects. If his sister has even more power, she needs training immediately. She could be a danger to the entire galaxy otherwise.”   
“Well, that’s not exactly my first thought.” Ki-Adi-Mundi interjected. “I’m more concerned about what would happen if a sith got a hold of her. With Sith training, she could become an immensely powerful villain, which would not work in our favor.”

“Yes, Master Mundi, those were my thoughts exactly.” Obi-Wan replied.

“Either way, we need to keep her under our watch. Agreed?” Windu asked the council.

Everyone replied with “Agreed.” and “Definitely.”

“Hmmm. Interesting event, this is. How we proceed, I do not. Master Windu, your thoughts?”

“I think we keep the girl under a close watch. Keep her inside the temple for a while. I think Obi-Wan should work closely with her in terms of training. Master Yoda, I think you and Healer Agistel should work together to help her with her mind; such as concealing her force signature and building her mental shield. This will help us keep her hidden as long as we can.”

“Excellent thoughts, you have. Most excellent, Master Windu.” Yoda replied happily. “Master Obi-Wan! Willing to work with her, you are?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Excellent! Dismissed you are, Obi-Wan. Stay with you and your padawan, Alaney will.”

“Yes, Master Yoda. Thank you, Council.” Obi-Wan bowed and left the room. He found Anakina and Alaney sitting next to each other on the ground, leaned up against the wall. 

He sprung up quickly, followed by Alaney. 

“What happened, Master? What did the council decide?”

“We’ll talk about it back at our quarters, Anakin. We’re going there now.”

Anakin nodded and the three walked down the corridor toward Obi-Wan and Anakin’s living quarters. They reached the door and stepped inside. 

“This is where you guys both live?” Alaney asked. 

“Yep.” Anakin answered.

“That’s so cute! You guys are roommates!”

Obi-Wan and Anakin both laughed.

“It’s not always the best arrangement.” Anakin joked. 

“Yeah, for me.” Obi-Wan joked back. 

Alaney stood in place, looking around. 

“You know, you can sit down, Laney. Or walk around. You don’t have to act all formal in here.” Anakin said to her.

She walked up to the windowsill where a small string of beads was laid carefully across. 

“What are these?” she asked.

“Those are my old master’s padawan braids.” Obi-Wan answered. “When he died, they were given to me by the council.”   
“What are they for?”

“They’re symbols of accomplishment. Every time you accomplish something detrimental to knighthood, you get a bead added onto your braid.”

“Do you have them?” she asked Anakin.

“Yep.” he twirled his braid around to the front of his head and showed off his string of beads.

“You have a lot! Does that mean you’re becoming a knight soon?”

“No.” “Yes.” Obi-Wan and Anakin answered respectively. 

“We’ll see.” Obi-Wan scolded. “Anyway, padawan, don’t you have meditation to go with Master Windu?”

“Noooooo please don’t make me go. Not today. I have to show Alaney around! She needs a tour!”

“You’re not skipping it again, Anakin. Go on now, I will give Alaney a tour.”

“But I wanted to!”

“Go, Anakin. Meditation is important for your growing mind.”

“Fiiine.” Anakin sighed, rolling his eyes. “Sorry, Laney. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

He walked out of the quarters dragging his feet and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. 

“Why’s he hate meditating so much?” Alaney asked.

“I wish I knew the answer to that. Ever since he was a child he always hated it. I don’t get it. For me, it’s the most peaceful and calming sensation in the world. For him, it’s boring.” 

“Huh. What a strange guy.” 

Obi-Wan chuckled. “Yeah, he’s certainly something else. Listen, Alaney, I have a meeting with a diplomat in a few minutes. Whoever’s back first, me or Anakin, will give you a tour, okay? In the meantime just hang out here.”

“Okay, sure. Have a good meeting.”

“Thank you. Be back soon.” Obi-Wan smiled and ducked out, leaving Alaney alone to explore the living quarters. She wandered about the living room, picking up various books and magazines. She walked into what she immediately knew was Anakin’s room. There were ship parts everywhere, an unmade bed, random pieces of food lying around, and tons of opened books and assignments thrown on the floor. She looked at the room next to it and knew it was Obi-Wan’s. There was no mess on the floor, the bed was made, and it looked basically unlived in aside from one model of a ship on the desk.

_ Hmm. Must be something important to him if it’s the only thing on display in his room. _

She left Obi-Wan’s room without invading any of his privacy but walked back into Anakin’s pigsty to look around. While some of the ship parts were from models (half unbuilt), some were real and seemed fairly dangerous to be kept lying around. 

_ Yeah, seems about right. _

Just as she was putting together two pieces, she heard the door whiz open.

_ Shit! _

She dropped the piece and started walking toward the living room. Anakin strolled in, looking pleased. Alaney stood in the frame of his doorway, watching him.

“No meditation?” she asked.

“Nope! Master Windu got called into some meeting, whatever, who cares, and I got to reschedule. Whatcha doin in my room?” 

“Oh, I was just looking around. Sorry, I should’ve asked.”

“No it’s totally fine! It’s an absolute mess in there, though. I should probably clean up something in there, make Obi-Wan a little happy.”   
“Yeah, maybe the old food at least.” 

“Wanna help?”

Alaney nodded and walked back into his room. They started throwing stuff out and organizing for a few minutes before Anakin got bored and sat on his bed putting together a model.

“You suck at cleaning, Ani.”

“Yeah, well. Who needs it? I know where everything is.”

“Yeah, right. Lucky for you, I like cleaning.” Alaney finished cleaning every surface in his room and rearranging every model until it looked as spotless as Obi-Wan’s. 

“Dude, Obi-Wan is gonna think I moved out or something. My room hasn’t been this clean since I was like-ten.”    
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome. So, am I gonna get a tour now?”

“Oh right! Yeah, let’s go! We’ll see everything.”

The two left the living quarters and Anakin started talking about the temple, his life, and his daily routine. Alaney listened intently, genuinely interested in his life.    
“This is one of 8 billion meditation rooms. They’re like, every other room in this temple. Jedi loooove meditation.”   
“Jedi except you.”

“Yeah, jedi except me. This is one of our dueling rooms. It’s basically where any jedi can go and practice dueling. I much prefer spending time here.”

“Are you good?”   
“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but yeah. I’m one of the best, they say.” Anakin said, sounding arrogant. “Anyway, moving on. We have a lot of rooms for different types of training up here. Like, some are for flight simulators, and a lot of them are for physical training.” 

They walked around for about an hour before returning to home. 

“So, whaddya think? Good tour? Good tour guide?”

“Oh yeah, great tour guide. I like this place. Everything has such a designated purpose. Every room is used for something to improve something else, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Cool point, Laney.”

Anakin walked into his living quarters to see Obi-Wan sitting on the couch, looking angry. 

“Anakin, why on earth did you skip mediation?”

“I didn’t! Master Windu was busy!”   
“Busy doing what?”

“I don’t know, they said he had a meeting!”

“A meeting with who?!”

“I don’t know! I was told to reschedule and come back tomorrow, I swear!”

“That better be the answer I get from him when I ask later.”

“Well, it will be.”   
“Well, good.”

There was an awkward silence between them and Alaney stood behind Anakin, not knowing where to go. 

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. 

“So, Alaney, what did Anakin show you?”   
Alaney, grateful for a break in the silence, answered Obi-Wan and the two talked for several minutes about the workings of the temple. Anakin sulked off to his room without joining in. Obi-Wan sighed his usual sigh at Anakin as he walked by. Once he was inside his room, Obi-Wan shook his head and asked, “Why does he need to get so moody about everything?”

“I don’t know, I barely just met the guy.”   
“I know. Sorry, Alaney, I’m not trying to impose our issues onto you. Your brother just manages to cause a lot of frustration for me. But that’s alright. He’s learning. Speaking of which, we have some training exercises for you try tomorrow, alright? You’ll work with me in the morning and Master Yoda in the afternoon. Just simple things, just to work on teaching you to control and use the force more. Sound good?”

“Sounds good, Obi-Wan.” 

Obi-Wan smiled and turned on the TV to the news. They watched in silence for a while before Obi-Wan drifted off to sleep. Alaney looked around and, for the first time, began to feel homesick. She saw the city buzzing outside the window and longed for the endless fields and waterfalls that surrounded her home. She missed the stillness, the quiet, and her ability to roam around and climb up cliffs and go on adventures. She sighed. This was her life now. Maybe it was for the best. It had been awful lonely out there on Naboo. At least now she had her brother. 

It was late now, and the city turned into a glowing mesh of buildings and nightlife. She watched it as she, too drifted off to sleep, dreaming of being back home. 

***

Alaney woke up from an odd dream to find the room dark and the sky outside darker. She checked her watch and found it was 2:32am. There was a blanket over her and a pillow under her head, and Obi-Wan and Anakin were presumably asleep in their rooms. She tried to fall right back asleep but was restless and wide awake. 

***Alaney’s POV***

Why can’t I fall back asleep? I must’ve fallen asleep around 12:30, meaning I’ve only been asleep for two hours. Why am I so awake now? 

I don’t really feel like sitting around in the dark, but am I allowed to walk around the temple? Welp, it’s not prison. Hopefully it’s fine. I pad quietly out of the room into the surprisingly well-lit hallway. Hmm, maybe people do walk around here at night. I pace the hallways for a long while without seeing anyone or hearing any noises. It’s almost eerily quiet, but it’s somehow peaceful. I find what appears to be a large meditation room with the door open and decide to explore. I walk in to find not an empty mediation room, but Master Yoda sitting quietly and staring out the window. I’m about to duck out before he can notice me, but he turns around. 

Crap.

“Greetings, young Skywalker. Unable to sleep, are you?”

“Yes, sir.” I say nervously. This guy is in charge of everyone, right? Does that make him the worst person to get caught walking around by?

“Like to meditate, would you?”

No? Not really? But I don’t really think I’m supposed to say no to this guy.

“Sure.”

“Most excellent, young Alaney. Sit like me, you must.” 

I mimic his sitting position and he begins guiding me through meditation. My eyes are closed but I feel the force swirling around me. It feels amazing, so powerful yet so peacefully harmonic with the world. Several hours must pass before we finish our meditation, and I feel more well rested than I have in years. 

“Thank you, Master Yoda. That was really cool.”

“Feel the force in motion, did you? Most powerful thing in the world, it is. Important to maintain balance within the force, it is.” 

I don’t really know what to say to this so I just nod.

“Perhaps back to sleep, you will now fall.”

I nod again and thank him before leaving and returning to Ani and Obi-Wan’s room. I lie down on the couch with the blanket over me and close my eyes. I’m instantly exhausted and feel myself slipping out of consciousness into a peaceful, dreamy, sleep.

Finally.


	8. Chapter 8

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

I woke as early as I always do to see gray clouds covering the sky. Odd. It never really rained, but these clouds were very dark. I shrugged it off and walked out into the living room. Anakin’s door was closed but he was certainly still asleep and Alaney was sleeping peacefully on the couch.    
Oh how I worry about the two of them. It was practically my full time job to worry about Anakin but now I’ve got two of them. I sigh wistfully and begin meditating in front of the living room windows. I feel some sort of negative energy in the force and wonder if Anakin or Alaney is having a nightmare. It feels different, though. Much more real, more substantiated. I try to pinpoint where it’s coming from but it mixes in with all the energy and makes it impossible to find a source. A bad feeling overcomes me and I can’t shake it off. I abruptly stop meditating and go to find Master Yoda.

He is in his quarters, almost as if he was waiting for me to arrive.

“Master Yoda?” I ask before entering.

“Obi-Wan! Come in!”

I walk in and sit cross-legged on the bench next to him.    
“Master Yoda, may I ask you something?”

“Ask me anything, you may, Obi-Wan.”

“Well, I was meditating just now and I felt something very powerfully negative in the force. It wasn’t coming from anything in particular but it gave me a very bad feeling. Can you offer any insight?”   
“Felt it too, I have. Lack of balance in the force, there is. For now, continue to meditate on it, you should. Always, it will guide you.”

“Thank you, Master Yoda.” I returned home feeling a little less dreadful. I returned to meditating and focused on the force around me. I still felt the negative energy but I was able to let it be overcome with good energy. I meditated for who knows how long before returning to the present and seeing it was a little less dark outside. Still cloudy, sure, but less dark nonetheless. I turned around to the sound of rustling and saw Alaney sitting up.

“Hey, good morning.” I say.

“Hey Obi-Wan. How are you?”

“I’m alright. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, after a while. Where’s Ani?”

“Sound asleep, probably. He doesn’t like waking up before lunchtime.”   
She looks amused by this statement and lies back down.    
“I should go wake him up now. It’s getting late.” I open Anakin’s door and literally gasp in surprise. His usual disgusting mess of a room is spotless. There’s no old food, no ship parts lying around, and the weird smell is even gone.    
“Anakin!” I accidentally yell.

He sits up abruptly.

“What?? What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“What in the blazes did you do to your room?”   
He looks around his room, seeming very confused.

“What?”

“It looks like you’ve thrown away your stuff!”

“Oh. What? No. Me and Laney cleaned it. Well, she cleaned it. She was horrified by how messy it was.” 

“I don’t think I’ve seen your floor in years.”   
“Did you really have to scream my name and wake me up to ask about my room being clean?”

“Oh, right. No, I was just surprised. It’s time to get up. You have training to do today.”

He half glares at me while staying half asleep and rests back on his elbows.    
“Okay.”

I walk back to the living room and see Alaney sitting on the couch.

“Alaney, thank you for helping Anakin with his room. I have been telling him to clean it for-I kid you not-years. He’s such a slob. Honestly. Thank you. He’s lucky to have a sister like you now to help him out.”

She just laughs and shakes her head.   
“Anyway, are you ready to try some training today?”   
“Yeah, sure.”

She seems to be holding back a little. I try to sense her thoughts but she’s acting very guarded and I come up empty-handed. 

“It’s nothing to worry about. Master Windu wants to see what you’re capable of, that’s all.”   
She nods and I decide to stop pressing her further. Anakin stumbles out a minute later, looking disgruntled.

“Hey, Laney.” he says groggily.

“Hey.” 

“Anakin, you have training in twenty minutes. Would you possibly like to go on time today?”   
“Who’s it with?”

The attitude of this boy…

“Master Koon.”

“Sweet! Yeah, I’ll go.”

He runs back into his room to get dressed. If only he could learn to appreciate all his training, not just training with the people he prefers. He’s back out in 30 seconds and practically out the door before I can stop him.

“See you guys later!” he yells, and disappears. 

“Always so urgent.” I say, shaking my head. I glance at Alaney but she’s staring at nothing, seemingly lost in thought. Something really seems off with her today.

“Alaney?”   
She blinks and looks up.

“Yeah?”

“Are you alright? You seem a bit out of it.”

“I’m okay.”

“Yeah?”   
“Yeah.” 

She’s still hesitating. I worry that this has something to do with my bad feeling earlier. Has she felt it too? This is when I notice something about these siblings. Anakin is much more emotional. He’s constantly angry, excited, and frustrated. He wears his heart on his sleeve, whether he likes it or not. We argue more than anything, but I can always tell what he’s feeling. And as mad as he gets, he never puts up mental shields to block me out. Alaney’s different. She’s nowhere near as hot headed as her brother. But she’s very, very, guarded. Of course I recognize that I’ve known her for barely a week and she is pretty shy, but I  _ can _ sense that she doesn’t like people knowing what she’s thinking.

It also worries me. Ever since the beginning of Anakin’s training, I’ve worked to keep our lines of communication open. Master Yoda advised me that due to Anakin’s immense power with the force, he would always be vulnerable to the dark side. The more open he could be with me, the more I could guide him away from any danger. 

Alaney’s much older than when Anakin started. She’s not open to talking, she’s not familiar with her abilities, and she’s been through years of hardships. Who knows how vulnerable she is to turning. I’ve got to get her on the right track. Or am I overreacting? Who’s to say? We can start with training, and take it from there. We have to start somewhere.

“You ready to go?” I ask her.

Alaney nods and follows me out of the room. We walk down the corridors in pretty much silence as I strive to think of something to ask her. I come up empty-handed and we arrive at the training center. I see Master Windu standing inside, waiting for us. 

We walk up to him and he nods at us.

“Obi-Wan, Alaney, hello. Ready to start?”   
Alaney nods. 

“Good. Here’s what we’re gonna do first.”

 

***Alaney’s POV***

This training room is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. There’s strange technology everywhere, an entire wall of lightsabers, and some high-tech military obstacle course. There are holograms of different droids, tech stations, all kinds of weird stuff I’ve never seen before. I stop looking around and go back to paying attention to Mace Windu.

“You’re going to wear this helmet that serves a protection device and visor to cover your eyes. I’m going to give you this lightsaber, and then I’m going to turn on this small droid here, and it’s going to shoot small lasers at you. It’s got thermal aim, and it will detect any movements you make and shoot accordingly. I want you to feel your way through the force and block the shots with saber, okay?”

Obi-Wan interjects.

“Master Windu, with all due respect, don’t you think she should do it without the helmet first?”

“Not to worry, Obi-Wan. The lasers won’t harm her, should she be unable to defend herself.”

Obi-Wan looks doubtful, which inexplicably annoys me. I can do this.

“Alright, let’s go.” I say, reaching for the helmet. I put it on and I’m submerged in darkness. Really not an ounce of light in here. Someone gently grabs my wrist and puts the lightsaber in my hand. It reminds me of when my father used to let me practice with one. I hear Mace Windu say, “I’m turning on the droid now. Remember, use the force.”   
At first, I feel a little blocked out and I’m not sure how to “use the force” to block some lasers. But then I sense the droid about to shoot. I can’t see, hear, or touch where it’s going to shoot, but somehow I know. I ignite the saber. I feel my arms move the saber and deflect the laser. It feels more natural as it shoots more and I feel like I’m flying a ship on autopilot. I almost zone out a little until I hear Mace Windu again.

“Good job, I’m going to increase the speed a bit now.”

More lasers start shooting at me at a much faster pace and the lightsaber spins and slides around in my hand, easily deflecting them. I guess he keeps increasing the speed, because the lasers are coming a mile a minute. I keep deflecting with ease for a few minutes until it finally stops. Well, that was fun. Someone pulls the helmet off my head and I squint as my eyes readjust. When they do, I see Obi-Wan and Mace Windu looking a little stunned.

“What?” I ask.

“That was, that was really good. Well done, Alaney.” Mace Windu says to me. Obi-Wan stays silent, still looking really surprised.

“Do you need a break?” Mace Windu asks me.

“No, I’m good. What’s next?”

For the first time, I see Mace Windu smile. 

“Alright then, moving on. Obi-Wan, can you go find Anakin and bring him over here?”   
“Certainly.” Obi-Wan walks away toward the obstacle course looking thing. I realize the lightsaber is still in my hand.

“Oh, sorry, here you go.” I say, handing it to Mace Windu. 

“Nope, hold onto that. You’re going to need it in a minute.”

I raise my eyebrows but say nothing.

What else am I gonna do with this thing?

Anakin and Obi-Wan are walking towards us now, Anakin looking sweaty.

“Workin hard Ani?” I ask him.

“You know it! What’re you doing here? Are you training?”

“Yes, Anakin, she’s training. We need your help.” Mace Windu says.

“Sure, anything.”   
“Alright. Anakin, I want Alaney to try a little bit of sword fighting. She did very well with the deflector droid, so I want you to help her learn how to fight a bit. A little bit, that’s all. Nothing intense. Don’t attack her, let her attack you and defend. Understood?” 

“Alright, let’s go Alaney! Get up here!”

“Anakin! Nothing. Intense. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master Windu. I understand.”

Anakin and I step up onto a platform, sabers in hand. I get a little nervous, but mostly excited. 

Anakin smiles at me. “Ready?” he asks.

“Uh, I guess. I don’t know what to do, though.”

“It’s simple. Just like with the droid, let the force guide you and try to hit me.”

“What if I  _ do _ hit you?”

“Laney, don’t worry. You won’t hit me.” he sounds super confident and I get ready. We ignite our sabers in sync and walk toward each other. Before I know it, our sabers clash and I feel the force guiding me. I sense everything Anakin is going to do and I try my best to get past his weapon. He’s smiling, obviously enjoying our battle. I gain the upper hand and he looks confused as he’s forced to back up toward the edge of the platform. I keep hitting at him and one point almost knock him off until he composes himself and fights back. Hard. We’re jumping, ducking, and aggressively striking each other.

Anakin starts hitting again and again until I start losing control and almost stop being able to defend. 

“Anakin, lighten up.” Obi-Wan says. His voice sounds distant and I fight to keep up with Anakin’s attacks. I finally strike his saber so hard he almost falls of the side. He looks angry and amused at the same time and jumps to avoid my next hit.  

I’m starting to run out of steam.

Obviously Anakin has plenty of stamina and he keeps going while I start winding down. I try to defend once more but miss and I feel the blade of his saber strike my shoulder. There’s a horrendous, searing pain as it comes in contact with my skin and I fall to my knees in pain. I see Anakin gasp in horror and run toward me before I fall all the way down.

“Anakin! What on earth is wrong with you?!” Mace Windu screams.

I feel a little dizzy.

Anakin kneels beside me.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”   
“Anakin, step away!” Mace Windu interrupts.

Obi-Wan seems at a loss for who to yell at and takes Anakin’s place beside me. 

“I didn’t mean to!” Anakin yells at Mace Windu.

“What were you thinking?! I said nothing too intense! What did you take that to mean? Get away from her, now!”

“What?! No! I swear, it was an accident!”

“I DON’T CARE! OUT!”

Anakin storms away. I’m feeling really dizzy now and a lot of pain in my arm.

“Alaney? Are you okay? Can you hear me?” Obi-Wan asks me.

“I’m okay.” I say unconvincingly. I start to sit up and gently pushes me back down.

“Stop, take it easy. Don’t try to sit up. Can you move your arm?”

I nod and wiggle my fingers.    
“I’ll get the healer.” Mace Windu says. I hear him walk out and look up at Obi-Wan’s concerned face.

“Can I please sit up?” I ask.

“No, no, try not to move.”

“It’s not that bad. I’m really fine.”   


“No.”

“Obi-Wan?”

“What?”

“Are you mad at Anakin?”

“I-no. I’m not that mad. He didn’t mean to, of course he didn’t. By the way, you were fighting fantastically. I mean, really. Anakin is one of the best fighters in the galaxy and you almost took him down in your first ever duel. That was really impressive.”   


“Yeah? That was fun. I don’t get why Mace Windu was yelling at him. We were just having fun.”   


“They’ve never been on the best terms. I’ll explain later, okay? He’s coming back now.”

Mace Windu reappears with two aliens and a floating stretcher. They lift me up and put me on it before I can object and start guiding me toward the medical bay. We get there and they put me onto a bed. One of the aliens starts working on my shoulder and Obi-Wan stands next to me, his hand resting on my arm. 

I cringe as I feel a sharp pain and Obi-Wan tightens his grip on my arm. This continues for a while until I hear yelling outside.

“You’re NOT going in there, Anakin! Me and you are going to have a long talk.” I hear Mace Windu say.

“Whatever. We’ll talk after I see my sister.”

I hear him somehow push his way in and run up to me.

“Oh thank god. Alaney. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Ani. That was a lot of fun. Seriously. I loved it. We gotta do it again so I can hit you.”

He laughs and reaches down to pat my arm. 

“Obi-Wan, can I please stay?” he asks.

“Listen, Anakin, I know this was an accident. But you can’t disrespect Master Windu like that. Go back out there and talk to him. Be respectful, and I’ll work it out.”

Anakin nods and leaves.

The healer seems to be done and walks away. 

“Is Ani gonna get in trouble? He really shouldn’t. Please, don’t let him, Obi-Wan. He didn’t do anything wrong.” I plead.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Obi-Wan says. “It’s all gonna be fine. I’ll work it out. Just rest. I’ll be back.”

He walks out, leaving me alone to think. 

All I can think about is how much I wanna pick up a saber and fight again.


	9. Chapter 9

***Several weeks later ***

 

Alaney has been training for weeks with Obi-Wan and Yoda, and she’s getting better every day. She’s more than proficient with a saber, and she’s starting to master mind tricks as well.

 

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

I’ve just finished discussing with the council the mission I’m to take on. It’s another attempt to destroy Grievous, and I’m far from looking forward to it. Anakin and Alaney are coming, which will be interesting. The council nor I would ever admit this, but in Alaney’s few weeks of training, she has far surpassed her brother skillwise. She constantly wins when we duel, and even Master Yoda has to work hard to defend her. 

She’s ready to put her skills into action. Master Windu gave me approval to give her a temporary lightsaber until she was able to make one for herself. It’s the one she’s been using since the first day, the one that called out to her originally. I arrived at our quarters to find the two of them building a ship model on the floor. They both looked up and looked strikingly similar. 

“What are you two up to?” I inquired.

“We’re building a model.” Anakin said, as they resumed working.

“Alright, that’s good but I need to talk to both of you for a minute. Come, sit.” They scrambled up from the floor and onto the couch next to me. Honestly, in some lights, they could pass for twins. 

“We’ve been assigned a mission.”   
“What’s it for?” Anakin asked.

“Can I come?!” Alaney asked more frantically.

“Shh. Let me finish. We’re being sent to Utapau to try to detain General Grievous.”   
“Again.” Anakin interrupted.

“Yes, Anakin. Again. We’re going to draw Grievous out of the ship, attempt a nonviolent capture, but use whatever actions necessary to bring him back to the council, alive and in captivity.”

“We’re gonna get him this time.” Anakin said seriously.    
“Have you tried before?” Alaney asked.

“Yeah, we’ve tried before. He keeps eluding us. Somehow…” he answered her.

“Yes. Alaney, if you will, come with me. I’ve got something for you.”   
She gets up to follow me but Anakin, curious as ever, stopped us.

“Where are you going? What are you giving her, Obi-Wan?”

“You’ll see in a while.”   
“Can’t I come?”   
I hesitated. This  _ was _ supposed to just be for her, but no point getting Anakin angry.

“Alright, you can come.” They follow me excitedly down the hall until we reach Master Yoda’s quarters. He wasn’t there, but I saw the saber resting on a shelf.

“Wait outside, you two.”

The door opens and closes behind me and I reach for the saber. It’s got a good vibe, a good energy, coming off of it. It feels right for her. THe two of them are standing eagerly outside waiting for me.

“This is for you, Alaney.” I extend out my hand toward her, offering the saber. She looks at me with a confused expression.

“You may have started a little bit late, but you are as much a jedi as any of us. Your sensitivity to the force is unmatched by anyone, and you deserve a weapon to protect yourself. I’ve said this to Anakin many times and I’ll say it to you now. This weapon is your life. Protect it at all costs, guard it as if it is a part of you, and use it in complete accordance with the jedi order. Can I trust you will do so?”   
She looked at me with eager and earnest eyes.

“Yes. I will.”

I hand her the saber and her face lights up. Anakin looks every bit as delighted as her, and I can’t deny that I’m happy too. Maybe she’s the chosen one, maybe Anakin is, maybe we will never know. But as of now, there is balance in the force. Peaceful, perfect balance.

 

The trio headed out for their mission early the next morning. Anakin was, as usual, flying. He could hear Obi-Wan talking to Alaney in the backroom of the ship.

“Now listen, Alaney. You are an excellent fighter but this is the first mission you’ve ever been on. I need you to listen and observe everything Anakin and I do, and try not to get in the way. I mean that lovingly, of course, but do try to be a quiet observer. Understood?” he heard Obi-Wan say in his lecture voice.

“Yeah, of course. It’s not like I would have any clue what to do anyway.”

They kept talking for a while and Anakin zoned out, lost in thought. He couldn’t help but feel that Obi-Wan preferred his sister over him. She was quiet, non confrontational, and much less aggressive than him. She hadn’t heard a word of disagreement toward anyone come from her the entire time she’d been here. No doubt Windu liked her more. Still, Anakin hoped Obi-Wan wasn’t trying to replace him with his little sister. If anything, Anakin felt he should be the one training her. He was almost ready to be knighted and should be taking on a padawan. Unfortunately, he was the only one who thought this. Obi-Wan and Mace Windu agreed Anakin needed a lot more time as an apprentice. Anakin got a little angrier the more he thought about it, but ultimately decided to let it go. He had his sister, his family, by his side now. That was all that he cared about. 

“Master, we’re ready to land.” Anakin shouted back at Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan appeared behind him and gave his approval nod.

“Do you need to hear the plan again, padawan?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”   
“Yes.”

“Alright then. You and Alaney will go to the disclosed location after we land and wait for me to tell you to go.”   
“Yes, Master.”

Obi-Wan then hushed his voice and spoke in a much quieter tone.

“You look out for you sister, okay? Make sure nothing happens to her.”

“Of course I will. I’d protect her with my life.”

“Good. Remember, padawan, how you felt on your first ever mission. You must’ve been just 9 or 10. Be mindful of your thoughts and actions, for now you have an impressionable mind watching you.”   
“Yes, Master. I know. I’m not going to set a bad example.”

“You’ll make sure to keep an eye on her the whole time?”

“Master, YES! Do you not trust me?”   
“Of course I trust you. I was a wreck the first time you came on a mission with me. I’d never been responsible for another person’s well being. Now I’m responsible for two.”

“Don’t worry Obi-Wan. It’s going to be fine.”

Rarely did Anakin call Obi-Wan by his name, and he was comforted by the independence his padawan was taking on.

“Let us go then. No more time to waste.”

They walked to the back of the ship where Alaney was pretending to look like she hadn’t been trying to listen to their conversation.

“Let’s go, Laney.” Anakin said. “You’re with me.”

Obi-Wan followed them out.

“Stick to the plan. May the force be with both of you.”

“May the force be with you, Master.”

Alaney was unsure of whether or not she should say it too so she just smiled at Obi-Wan and followed Anakin as he strode away. 

“Are you scared Laney?”

“Not really, just a little anxious I guess.”

“Don’t worry. Just follow me, okay?”

“Will do.”

They carefully scaled the levels of the planet’s large sinkhole toward the base where Grievous was presumed to be. Once they were close enough to see, they stopped and starting planting the explosives to draw Grievous out. 

“Remember, Alaney. We need to check the thermal sensor before placing them to make sure we won’t be creating any major damage.”

“Right.”

They scaled and placed the explosives methodically enough that Grievous would take notice. When they finished, they waited for Obi-Wan to let them know it was time. They sat on a ledge waiting for some time before Anakin heard Obi-Wan speaking to him through the force. 

“ _ Is everything in place _ ?” he heard Obi-Wan ask.

“ _ Yes. Ready when you are.” _ he sent back.

“ _ Ready. Detonate on your call.” _

Anakin motioned for Alaney to get down and detonated the explosives. They heard several large booms and saw the pieces of crumbling rock exploding into dust.

_ “Excellent, Anakin. I’m going in once the troops come out.” _

Anakin looked at his sister and saw a now terrified expression on her face. 

“What is Laney, what’s wrong?!” he asked frantically.

“I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“It’s fine. Obi-Wan knows what he’s doing.”

Just then, they heard a massive crash coming from the base. They looked to see a fire erupting from a ship and battle droids running frantically about.

“That explosion didn’t come from us. Let’s go.” Anakin took off, descending rapidly down the sinkhole, Alaney following close behind.

“Who else would be attacking?” Alaney asked.

“I don’t know. But it can’t be good.” he answered. They reached a landing pad that was a short distance from the entrance. 

“Listen to me closely. If we are silent and subtle, no one will notice us. Follow every motion that I do.” 

Alaney nodded and started following him in. He ducked, she ducked. He jumped onto a platform, she jumped up right after. It wasn’t long before they ran into Obi-Wan.

“What are you two doing down here?!” he asked, sounding furious. 

“Master, there was an explosion! That we didn’t cause! We had to see who was attacking.”

“That was me! Do you not remember that part of the plan? You start getting their attention, I draw them out. Did I not say: Anakin, need to hear the plan again? Did I not ask you ten times?!”

“Alright! I’m sorry! It doesn’t matter anyway, we were going to end up here eventually.”

“Fine. We’ll split up again. I’ll head to the control center. Keep the droids away from as much as you can please.”   
“Yes, Master. You can count on it.”

Obi-Wan stormed away, looking annoyed.

“Don’t worry bout it.” Anakin said to Alaney, who stayed silent. They crept through the halls as quickly as they could without running into anyone. Finally, Obi-Wan called out to him.

_ “Grievous is nowhere to be found. The control room is damn near empty.”  _

_ “What do you want me to do?” _

_ “Keep looking. I’ll try to shut things down up here. Wait! Something’s very wrong. While the one ship exploded, everyone evacuated on another. Everyone’s gone! Every last battle droid!” _

_ “And Grievous?” _

_ “No sign of him. They must’ve fled after our explosions went off. Meet me at the entrance and we’ll reconvene. I’ll be there when I’m done going through this room.”  _

Anakin acknowledged his master’s request and motioned to Alaney to turn around.    
“Obi-Wan said--”

“I heard, Ani.”

“Right.”

They half walked half jogged back towards the entrance and, upon arrival, saw the desolate landing pads that were filled with droids a short while ago. 

“Stay back. In case anyone lands, we don’t want them seeing us.” Anakin said to his sister. They stood quietly behind a column for a while, waiting for Obi-Wan. Suddenly, they heard a ship’s engines revving down and saw a small pod-like craft land. 

“Who is that?!” Alaney asked.

“I have no idea. Shh.” he shushed her and listened intently.

When the ship had been on the pad for several minutes, he stole a glance at it. What he saw made his heart stop.

_ Dooku. _

“Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be right back.” Anakin whispered. He darted away into the shadows and Alaney stood perfectly still, though she was shaking. She heard nothing for a while and hoped Anakin was just getting a better look until a giant  **_CRASH_ ** shook her to her core. She turned around to see a massive piece of the ceiling falling rapidly toward Anakin. She saw a man dressed in all black staring maliciously at Anakin as he ran to escape the falling rubble. Anakin ignited his saber and ran toward Dooku at full speed. 

“What do you want now, Dooku?” he panted.

“Oh, Skywalker. Always so foolish. Where’s Obi-Wan? How’s he going to save you this time?” Dooku mocked.

“I don’t  _ need  _ any saving!”

Their lightsabers clashed and they started dueling with ferocious intensity. Anakin’s face fumed with anger and Dooku’s with smug arrogance. Alaney watched from afar, horrified at the sight of it all. Anakin was no match for Dooku, and he started to lose the battle. Dooku simultaneously kept fighting and attempted to drop debris on Anakin. Finally, Dooku struck him with force lightning as he went to defend himself from the rocks flying toward his head. 

“NO! ANAKIN!” Alaney screamed. She was sprinting now, faster than she’d ever ran in her life, towards her fallen brother. 

“Alaney, no! Get away, now!” he screamed back.

Dooku looked up in interest.

“And who might you be? Another member of this ever weak jedi combat team?”

She said nothing but ignited her saber and jumped at Dooku. He easily fought her off at first, but she held her ground. Anakin stumbled his way up off the ground and joined her in fighting. He held Dooku off for a moment while yelling, “Get as far away from here as you can, right now! Go find Obi-Wan! Go!”

“No! I’m not leaving you to die!”

“I’M NOT ASKING YOU, I’M TELLING YOU. GET AWAY FROM HERE RIGHT NOW.”

She simply ignored him and went back to fighting Dooku, who looked suspicious of what he was seeing. He’d never seen Skywalker so interested in anyone other than himself. This girl must be someone important. 

“Who are you?” he asked, as Alaney almost hit him in the arm. She said nothing and continued to press him until he finally managed to hit her with an intense bolt of lightning. The saber fell out of her hand and she hit the ground, completely unconscious. 

“No!” Anakin screamed, running toward her. Dooku pushed rocks back at him with all his power and trapped him partially beneath a boulder. 

Anakin was completely restrained and couldn’t move the boulder an inch.    
Dooku walked over to him, smiling a devious grin.

“Well, Skywalker, this  _ has _ been fun. However, this girl seems important to you, so I’m going to leave now. With her.”

Anakin’s face contorted in pain and horror.

“DON’T TOUCH HER DOOKU YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER I SWEAR I’LL RIP YOU TO PIECES.” he screamed.

Dooku picked up the unconscious Alaney and threw her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. 

“Goodbye for now, Skywalker.”

Anakin screamed and writhed to escape his restraint as he watched his sister get carried away into Dooku’s ship. His hand and saber were trapped completely underneath while his other hand pushed the rock with all his might.

“No! Don’t take her! Come back, please, Alaney!” he was sobbing and screaming now as the ship started to take off. He heard footsteps running toward him and saw Obi-Wan attempt to run after the ship before it took off. When he failed, he ran over to Anakin and moved the boulder off of him. He saw Anakin, who was bruised and battered, sobbing hard with tears all over his face. 

“HE TOOK HER, OBI-WAN. HE TOOK HER FROM ME. SHE’S GONE, SHE’S GONE.”

“WHO, ANAKIN?”   
“DOOKU!”

Obi-Wan’s face froze with terror. Dooku took Alaney? A Sith lord had now captured the most powerful jedi in the galaxy? God only knows what he would do to her. He looked at his sobbing padawan and fought to hold back tears himself. 

“We need to get moving. Now. Can you walk?” he asked Anakin.

Anakin nodded and shakily stood up. He started to collapse again and Obi-Wan guided him down.    
“I’ll get the ship. Wait here.”

Obi-Wan ran toward the ship and away from Anakin, mentally breaking down inside. This wasn’t just a failed mission. This was a disaster. This could be the Sith’s path to destroying the galaxy once and for all. He had to get her back before Dooku discovered what she was capable of.


	10. Chapter 10

***Alaney’s POV***

I wake up standing up, somehow, but I can’t move my arms. I look down and see my wrists cuffed by metal, along with my ankles. I look up and see the creep from before staring at me.

“What the?”   
“Hello…” he says eerily. “I’ve two questions for you. Who are you and why are you so important to Anakin Skywalker?”

I have no idea who this man is. He must be evil. His saber is red and Anakin tried his best to kill him. Anakin! Where is he?! How the hell did I get here?

“Who are YOU?” I ask.

“Do you think you’re in the position to be asking questions?”   
“How did I get here?!”

“I took you.”

Took me?! Who is this piece of garbage?!?

I glare and him and refuse to answer. Too bad he has no problem keeping up the conversation.

“So tell me, girl. What makes you so special? I’ve never seen you before. I’ve never fought you before. You’re quite good. Better than the pathetic mess that Anakin fights as.”

I feel anger boil up inside of me as he insults my brother and I use all my energy to spit in his face.

Oops. Bad call. 

He reaches out and slaps me across the face with so much power my eyes roll back.

“Why don’t you take some time to realize who has the upper hand right now! Jedi scum, you’re all the same! Think you’re so noble, eh? We’ll see.” he storms out dramatically and I roll my eyes. 

What a loser. I gotta get out of here, fast. I can see a memory coming back to me now of the moments toward the end of the fight. Anakin and I were totally bonded through the force, wordlessly communicating to try to defeat this creep. We almost had him. Almost. Then it went black. I must’ve lost and screwed it all up. 

First mission and I screw it up. This isn’t gonna bode well for my future as a jedi. 

It feels like forever before he comes back. 

  
“I’m going to give you one more chance, girl. Either we do this the easy way by talking like civilized people or we do this the hard way. Do you want to find out what the hard way is?”   
I stay silent. He sighs, sounding frustrated.

“Why does Skywalker care about you?”   
No response from me.

“Who trained you?”

Nope.

“Why were you travelling with Kenobi and Skywalker?”

Definitely not answering that one.

“Alright. You want to do it the hard way, that’s fine by me.” 

He briefly disappears and returns holding a device with wires coming out of it. He takes two wires with pads on them and sticks them to my head.

“For every question I don’t get an answer to, I’m going to press a button. Want to see what the button does?” He presses it without waiting for a response from me. I feel a searing wave of pain burst through my head and I start thrashing in my restraints. It keeps pulsating through me and spreads down my body, causing shockwaves of agony in my arms, legs, hands, and feet.

He watches me struggle and groan with a disgusting smile on his face until he finally stops holding down on the button.

“Do you get it now?”

I nod without looking at him. 

“Good! Now,  _ why _ are you important to Skywalker?”

I gotta think fast and make something up here.

“It’s not that I’m important to him. This was a test for him, to prove he’s ready for trials. They decided to let him train me for a while to see how he’d be with a padawan.”

Hmm. Sounds pretty believable. 

“Anakin Skywalker with a padawan?! What a thought! That fool is a child himself.” 

I feel my anger rise up again but resist it.

“Yeah, well, he failed. Obviously.” He starts laughing now. I hate this guy so much.

“Well that certainly explains why he was so upset about losing you. Nothing he hates more than losing.”

Yes! He bought it!

“Next question then. Who  _ are _ you? And who trained you?”

“I’m Alaney. Master Windu trained me.”

“Alaney what?”   
“I don’t know.”   
“You don’t  _ know  _ your last name?”   
“Nope.”

He reaches for the remote again, ready to press that stupid button.

“No! Wait! I don’t know my last name because I’ve never had one. I was abandoned at the temple as an infant. I didn’t have anything, not even a name.”

He looks skeptical but puts the remote back down.

“I don’t remember Mace Windu ever having a padawan...when did you start training with him?”   
“Uh-I don’t know. A few years ago?”

This was a wild guess. I have no idea when jedi start training. The creep’s face turns to confusion and then anger. Uh oh.

“Liar! You know nothing of what you speak! Tell me who you are!” he slams his hand down on the button and the pain overwhelms me again. It shoots through me like the time Anakin’s lightsaber hits me, but eight billion times harder. It won’t end. There’s tears streaming down my face and I’m screaming. Please, let this end. It feels like forever before he stops. 

I inhale ragged breaths and try to stop myself from crying.

I think about what Obi-Wan said a while ago. “You’re the most powerful living thing in the galaxy.” Then I remember what I overheard from the council. “If this power should fall into the hands of evil...there will be no stopping it.” 

I don’t know who this man is, but I know he is the face of evil. And I can’t let him win.

“Tell me who you are.”

“I told you. I’m not lying to you.”

“I think you are.”

“That’s too bad. Torture me until I die, and I won’t have anything else to say to you. I’d be of no use.”   
“Good point. You could be of some use now. You are quite the swordfighter.”   
“That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh, I think it is. A powerful fighter like you doesn’t want to spend her life meditating and negotiating with alien scum over peace treaty agreements. Do you know how powerful you could be? I could give you so much power. Power like you can’t even imagine right now. Like nothing you’ve ever felt.”

“I don’t want it. I’m not gonna become some evil fighter for you. I just want to go back home.”

He just glares at me, his dark beady eyes full of hate. 

“You jedi really are all the same. But if I have no use for you, why would I let you go home? You’ll just plot to come destroy me again, won’t you?”   
I say nothing.

“You think about things, girl. Maybe you’ll choose more wisely when I come back.” 

To my horror, he grabs a piece of metal off his belt and places it on the button to hold it down, before walking out. My mind goes blank and I feel myself lose consciousness. Sweet, silent relief.

 

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

Anakin is a wreck as we’re flying back to the council. I’m flying instead of him, which feels weird enough, and he’s pacing behind me.

“What are we gonna do?!”   
“I don’t know, Anakin. We’re going to figure something out.” I’m trying to be calm for his sake but I can barely pull it off. And as unfair as it is, I can’t help but be mad at Anakin. He let his temper get the best of him again. But I know this is all my fault. I was the one in charge. Everything had happened falls on my shoulders.

“Do you think she’s okay right now? What do you think he’s doing to her? I can’t feel her through the force, Master! Do you think she’s even still alive?!”

I have to be strong for Anakin.

“Stop. Take a breath, Anakin. She is smart and she is strong. She knows how to protect herself, okay? She’s just like you. She doesn’t let anybody take advantage of her.”

“You’re right. She’s the smartest kid I’ve ever met. We need to find her. I can’t believe Dooku! How does he manage to elude us every single time?! I swear I’ll destroy him when we find him.”

“Get ahold of your thoughts, padawan. You know such anger and hatred are not the jedi way.”

“I don’t care about that!”

“Anakin! Stop! Get your thoughts in order. You know you don’t mean that.”

Anakin slumped down in the seat next to me. He looked so weak, so hopeless.    
“I’m sorry, Master. I’m so overwhelmed. I’ve never felt this much pain before. Not even when I left my mother to come train with you.”

“I know Anakin. Try to keep your thoughts from spiraling. It will only make you feel worse.”

We fly the rest of the way home in utter silence. When we land, I feel Anakin’s dread alongside my own as we go to face to the council. They know we’re coming. We walk into the room and see the look of confusion on Master Windu’s face as he sees two of the three of us.

“Council.” I say solemnly as I bow. “We do not come bearing good news.”

“Where’s Alaney?” Master Windu asks.

“She’s been taken hostage by Count Dooku. She-”

“She WHAT?” Master Windu interrupts. “Count Dooku has KIDNAPPED Alaney?! How did this happen?!” Other members of the council gasp as well. Master Yoda’s face doesn’t looks surprised, just sad.

“It was not our intention to run into Dooku. Grievous and his battalion left before we could get to him. We were ready to leave ourselves when Dooku arrived. Anakin was forced to fight him alone, as I was in another part of the base, and Alaney tried to help Anakin. Dooku was able to outwit them and take her on his ship before we could stop him.”

They’re all quiet for a minute.

“Very dangerous this is, Obi-Wan.” Master Yoda says. “In much danger I fear Alaney is.”

“I agree. Dooku is not a force to be reckoned with. He is impulsive and resentful. It is imperative that we find her before he loses his cool.” Master Windu says.

“Absolutely.” I say. Anakin stays silent next to me.

“Anakin?” Windu asks.

“Yes?”

“Will you excuse us for a moment?”   
“Why?! I need to know what’s going on.”   
“And you will. This matter does not concern your sister. Go.”

Anakin looks angry and walks out of the room with a scoff.

Master Windu watches him leave and turns back toward me the second he’s gone.

“I don’t know how this happened, Obi-Wan. But we are in a position of danger, real danger. This isn’t good. If Dooku already fought her, he knows what she’s capable of. It’s only a matter of time. We need to get to her now.”   
“I understand, Master Windu. I don’t know how it happened myself.”

“Very well. I want you and Anakin to get working on tracking coordinates of whatever you can find. Anything near where you were and he might’ve gone.”   
“Yes, Master.” I bow and leave, feeling his eyes boring holes into the back of my head.

I feel so much guilt and shame. I tell Anakin what we’re to do and he practically starts running toward the navigation center.

Alaney, I hope you’re okay. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Use it however you must. We’re coming as soon as we can find you.


	11. Chapter 11

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

I’ve been searching for coordinates for hours. Anakin is across the table from me, asleep, and slumped over onto a book. He looks so tired. I love seeing him asleep. His face loses all its anger and turns into the innocent face of a child.

I go back to looking at coordinates before I realize something. Dooku won’t be trying to outrun or hide from us. He doesn’t care enough about that. He does what he wants, but he feels the obsessive need to stay powerful. And where else does he have more power than at his base? He must be there.

“Anakin, wake up.” I nudge him lightly.

“Wha-a-t?! What’s wrong? I’m awake!” he jumps out of his seat as he talks.

“We’re going to Dooku’s base. Right now.”

“What? Why?”

“Anakin, do you remember the time Dooku captured me? Well, and you and Senator Amidala.”

“Yeah?”

“And where did he keep me?”

“Geonsis?”   
“Right. He feels safest guarded by his soldiers. I’ve got more than a hunch that he’s there right now.”

“Let’s go.”    
We practically run to the council, too disoriented to realize it’s the middle of the night and they’re all asleep. 

“Master let’s just go! They’ll get it!” Anakin says anxiously.

“Go get a ship. I’ll tell Master Yoda.” 

He runs away at lightspeed and I walk towards Master Yoda’s quarters. It takes me practically ten seconds to explain before he gives me approval and wishes me luck. He says to keep them updated and ask for help if we need it. 

I run out to the ship bay and see Anakin practically taking off in a ship. He sees me and revs the engine and I have to sprint to get on before he’s gone.

He flies faster and more recklessly than I’ve ever experienced with him.

“Good god slow down! What’s wrong with you?”

“We have to get to her!”

“We aren’t going to if you keep flying like this!”

He rolls his eyes but slows down. The trip goes by quickly still and we’re at Geonosis before we know it. 

“Land there. We’ll hide the ship but we need to be close.” I say to him. He lands smoothly and quietly and it’s not broad daylight. No hiding us now.

“Master?”   
“Yes?”

“What’s the plan? I mean, do we have one?”   
My reckless padawan asking about a plan?

“Anakin, when have you ever wanted to follow a plan?”   
“Well...I don’t know. It just seems like we should have some idea.”

He’s right. I’m not thinking rationally at this point.

“Alright, let’s make it brief. We’re going to go in there, peacefully, and use mind tricks if we must. That should get us as far as Dooku. When we get to him, we try to reason. We negotiate. We stay peaceful unless we  _ must _ act otherwise. We get Alaney back. We go home.”

“Okay, got it.” he says, nodding furiously. “Let’s go.”

 

***Alaney’s POV***

I’m off that horrible ship now. I was blindfolded when we got off and now I’m in a windowless room. What does he think me being able to see is gonna do? What threat will that add? It’s not like I know where anything is anyway. 

I’ve learned his name is Dooku from one of his droid soldiers.  _ Count _ Dooku. I need to get out of this place. I’m chained to the wall here and I don’t see any way out. There’s a door that’s locked and no windows. Then I think about what my father used to tell me.

_ “Jedi have many ways of using the force. Not just through fighting and physical power. They can use the force to manipulate minds. Tricking people into doing things for them.” _

Would this work? Am I capable of such a thing? Probably not with Dooku. Who else am I supposed to try it on? 

This situation feels completely hopeless. I slump against the wall in defeat. 

I miss home. 

I miss dad.

Was this all a mistake?

 

***Dooku’s POV***

This girl intrigues me so very much.    
I don’t believe a word she says, but her words are the only information I have at all. She is much more powerful and coordinated than Skywalker. But something about the way she fights reminds me of him. Either she is lying about who trained her or...well...that must be it. He must’ve trained her.

Yet he is still a padawan. Those jedi are too conservative to let a trainee train another jedi. I need to get to the bottom of this, but this girl’s resolve is astonishing. I’ve tortured information out of grown aliens and humans alike with much less than I’ve done to her. There has to be a way to break her.

Then I remember cutting of Skywalker’s hand a while back. That certainly impaired his fighting. Well, why not give that a try?

I stride from the control room to where I’m keeping her. She glares at me as I enter.

“Hello, girl.”

She keeps silently glaring at me and I slowly approach her.

“How long have you had your lightsaber?”   
“I don’t have it anymore. My-Anakin took it with him. Hopefully.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”   
“Fine. A while.”

This girl is really starting to get on my nerves. She’s got the attitude of Skywalker, that’s for sure.

“And how much do you value you saber?”   
She just glares at me. Useless scum.

“This is how this is going to work.” I ignite my weapon. “Either you start answering me, or I start cutting you into pieces.”

For once, I see terror in her eyes. About time. 

“What can you tell me about the jedi right now? What’s going on in the Senate?”

“I have no idea.”   
Damn her! I lose my temper and slash at her right wrist. She moves in split seconds and the chain holding her right hand is cut. She proceeds to duck and dodge my blows and I continue to try to strike her.

I no longer care about information from this girl. I want her dead. 

Suddenly, my hand feels as if I’m not controlling it and I feel it swing to cut the chain on her other wrist. Dazed, I step back. She swings her leg and before I can react kicks me in the face. My anger returns along with my senses and I try to hit her with my weapon. She jumps past me and starts sprinting out of the room. 

“You worthless scum! Guards! Stop her now! Don’t let her get anywhere!”

I feel winded and confused. Did that jedi scum just overpower me?   
She needs to be stopped now. I run out of the room and see the guards lying on the ground groaning. 

“What is the matter with you?!? GO GET THAT GIRL!”

They stumble up and I watch them leave before returning to the control room.

I reach the head soldier and give him my orders.

“Listen closely. No one goes in or out of this base until I find the escaped prisoner. Shut everything down. Now.”

 

***Alaney’s POV***   
Well, I guess I was wrong. That mind trick worked on Dooku. I made him slash through my chains. And I finally got a good kick aimed at his smug face. I managed to get out of the room, but now I’m just hiding in this air-vent looking structure. Every part of my body hurts. All I want is to be out of this torture chamber and back home on Naboo. I guess I’ve gotta find the way out of here. I walk through the vents for a while before I realize that everything has gotten very quiet. The lights are dimmer than they were and the buzz of machines is gone. That can’t be good. I try to move more quietly now and before long I see bright light shining into a massive bay. That’s my way out. The pounding in my head returns and I feel so sick I suddenly need to sit down. I’m basically lying down now waiting for the pain to stop. It’s not long before I hear a commotion and look up to see droids shooting laser guns at something. I walk closer, avoiding being seen, and hear one of the droids yell, “Jedi alert!”

Jedi! Could it be my brother? Is he alive?!? I start climbing down from the air vent to try to get a better look. I see a blue lightsaber ignite. Someone’s slashing through those droids very quickly. How can I get to him? Ah, the force! We’ve communicated through it before, and if that’s him, we should be close enough to do it now. I try to hear anything but the pounding in my head blocks me off. 

_ Anakin? _ I finally manage to call out. I hear nothing.

_ Anakin? Are you here? _ I feel something change in the force. Energies mixing.

_ Alaney?!? Where are you?! Are you okay?!? _

It is him! He found me! 

_ I’m hiding. I see your saber.  _ The pounding in my head gets worse and I realize I won’t be able to communicate this way for much longer.

_ Stay where you are. I’ll come find you when it’s safe. _

I’m not falling for this crap again. Screw it. I’m not gonna let him get captured too. 

I slowly work my way toward the commotion. I’m on the floor instead of the vents, and I can see Anakin now. He is alive. I sigh with relief and continue going towards him. Most of the droids on the floor have run down different hallways around the base and in a matter of minutes he’s killed off the last of the ones trying to fight him. He’s only 20 or 30 feet from me now and I start running out. 

“Ani!” I yell, still checking that no one else is around. He whips around with his weapon in hand, expecting another fight.

“Alaney! Are you okay? Oh my...you’re hurt. What did that beast do to you?” 

He puts his weapon away and runs toward me and wraps me in a hug.

“You’re alive. You’re alive.” he keeps repeating this as he hugs me. “You’re alive. I was so scared. I’m so happy to see you.”

“I never thought I’d see you again.” I say, hugging him back. “Are you here alone?” I ask him.   
“No, no, Obi-Wan’s here. Come on. We’re getting out of here. Can you walk?”   
“Obviously. How do you think I got to you?”   
He laughs as he lets go of me. 

“Obviously. My bad. Obi-Wan said he was going to look for you inside while I kept things under control here. So let’s go get him. Then we’re getting out. Okay? We’re getting far, far away from here.”

I nod and follow him. Back into the belly of the beast. I feel sick walking back toward where Dooku inevitably is. 

“Where are the air vents?” he asks me.    
“Over here. Follow me.”

We walk over and climb up. My head pounds again and I stop abruptly, leaning on the wall.   
“What is it?! Are you okay?!?” Anakin asks me. 

“I’m fine.”

I push through it and keep walking. 

“Obi-Wan’s close. I can feel him.” Anakin says.

_ Master.  _ I hear him call out through the force.

_ I’m still looking Anakin. Is everything alright? _

_ I found her. Let’s get out of here. Where are you? _

_ I’m walking the halls. Get back to the ship now before someone finds us. _

“Alright, let’s go Laney. Laney?”

I hear him asking me but I fail to respond. My head is pounding and my eye aches from where Dooku hit me.

“Laney?!”   
I shake my head and try to focus.

“Sorry, sorry. Where are we going?”

“We’re getting out of here. Come here.”

I feel him put my arm over his shoulder and support me as we walk. 

We reach the bay again soon and he helps me climb down. I feel Anakin freeze in place and step in front of me. I turn around and my stomach drops. 

Dooku smiles at us with his lightsaber ignited.

“Nice running into you two again.” 

“You’re not winning this time, Dooku.” I sense a new rage burning inside of my brother as he charges at Dooku. Their weapons clash and Anakin fights wildly. His eyes are full of hate. I’ve never seen him fight like this. He wants revenge. In a matter of seconds Anakin knocks Dooku’s saber out of his hands. 

Dooku falls to his knees in surrender. I see Anakin raise his arm in preparation. 

“No! Anakin, don’t!” I yell. He looks back at me, obviously confused. 

“This is payback!” he yells.

“No! He’s not worth it, Ani!”

“He’s too much of a threat. To everyone.” And with one powerful slash, Anakin kills him. I stare at him in shock. Did he really just kill Dooku? I don’t know why I defended him. He’s right, Dooku was a threat.

“We’re getting out of here.” Anakin says coldly.

I shakily nod and he goes back to supporting me as we walk. 

“Alaney, you’re shaking. It’s okay. I did what I had to do.”   
“You didn’t have to kill him.”

“But if I hadn’t killed him, he would’ve hurt more people. You see?”   
“Yeah. I see. I just want to go home.”   
“I know. That’s where we’re going. We’re almost at the ship.”

Poor Anakin. In a matter of seconds, he made up my mind. I don’t want to go home meaning Coruscant. I want to go home to Naboo.


	12. Chapter 12

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

It feels like forever before I finally hear footsteps near the ship. I run out and see Anakin with his sister’s arm over his shoulder. Alaney is covered in bruises and scratches. Most notably is a giant bruise all around her right eye. I see as they get closer that she’s barely walking and Anakin is all but carrying her, and struggling while doing so. Despite how skinny she is, she’s nearly his height.   
I run up to meet them and before I can stop myself I reach out to hug her.

“Obi-Wan!” she says with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, but her voice sounds strained and tired.

I feel so close to crying that I say nothing and just keep hugging her. I can’t believe she’s here in front of me. She’s alive even after the mistakes we made. I finally choke back my tears and speak.

“I’m so happy to see you. Let’s get out of here.” She shakes Anakin off and walks into the ship behind me.    
“Anakin, get us off of this planet.”

“On it.” he takes a seat piloting and the ship starts to take off. There’s a cot toward the back room of the ship and I motion for Alaney to sit down. I’ve never felt so at a loss for words. I’m filled with guilt when I look at her bruised face. If only we’d been more careful. We shouldn’t have even brought her on that mission. All these thoughts fill my mind as I search for something to say. If I can’t speak right now, I should at least be helping her medically.

“What hurts the most? Your eye?” I ask.

“No. My head.”   
“What happened to your head?”   
“I don’t know exactly. There was this machine, it looked like a brain scan almost. But it wasn’t. It had a button attached that made pain shoot up and down my entire body. But the pads were attached to my head.”

God. She didn’t deserve any of this. But there she is, strong and resilient as ever.

“Alright. I’ll get something for your head. Does your eye hurt?”

“Not really.”

“Can I put something on it? The color is worrying me a bit.”   
“Yeah, I guess.”   
“Does anything else hurt?”   
“My whole body kinda aches. It’s fine, though, just my head is really bothering me.”

I look more closely at her eye and see that both of them look bruised.

“Which eye hurts more?”   
“What? Why would my left eye hurt?”   
“It’s got a bruise under it too.”   
“No it doesn’t. I’m just tired.”

I realize she’s right. The bruise only covers her right eye but both eyes have large bags under them.

“When’s the last time you slept?”

“Whenever we were at the temple.”   
“You haven’t slept since before--?!” I pause. Since before what? What am I supposed to call this mess?   
“No. He wouldn’t let me.”

All I want to do is hug her and comfort her. She’s so tough. And she’s not acting in any way that justifies me being so sappy. She seems mad, and she’s probably furious with both of us.    
“Do you want me to get you something that will make you fall asleep?”   
“I don’t know. Is that a bad idea?” She looks at me with her skeptical but trusting eyes and I almost let tears well up again.    
“No. Your body is exhausted. You need sleep.”   
“Okay...I guess. It’s not gonna make me feel sick or something right?”   
“No. It’s just going to help you sleep. That’s all.” 

She nods and I walk away to get the various medical supplies. I almost start crying as my guilt continues to rush through me. I know there’s important conversations to be had and certainly apologies to given. But right now, this girl’s been awake for almost five days. She needs to sleep.

 

***Alaney’s POV***

It feels so good to be sitting safely in the ship, away from Geonosis. Obi-Wan seems upset. I mean, I should probably be really upset too. It just hasn’t really sunk in yet.

He comes back with a bunch of stuff and starts putting a bandage on my eye. He has such a sad vibe coming off of him.

“Hey Obi-Wan?”   
“Yes?”

“Thanks for coming to get me.”

He smiles and looks a little surprised. 

“Of course we came to get you. It’s our fault you got into this mess.”   
“Not really.”

“Alright. We’ll talk about it later, okay? Here, take this.” He hands me a blue pill and a glass of water.

“How long is it going to make me sleep for?”   
“It’s just going to help you fall asleep.”   
I swallow it skeptically and lie down on the cot. Obi-Wan pats my arm like he always does and leaves to go put the stuff away. This pill works fast. I feel myself slip away from consciousness and into a long-awaited sleep.

 

I suddenly see Dooku’s red saber glowing before my eyes and scream as he brings his arm back, ready to strike me. Everything is dark except the horrible red glow. I’m paralyzed with fear for a few treacherous seconds before it ends.

The nightmare.

I sit up abruptly as I’m jarred awake. I’m drenched in sweat and there’s blood on my hand from where I must’ve nicked one of my cuts. I see Anakin running towards me and I try to snap out of it.

“What’s wrong?!” he asks frantically. “You were screaming in your sleep. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Sorry. I was having a bad dream. Sorry.”   
“Oh. That’s okay. That happens to me all the time. Do you--wanna talk about it?” He sounds unsure of what to say to me.

“No it’s fine. Can I just come sit up front with you guys?”   
“Of course you can. Come on.”

I rub my eyes and wince as I hit my right one. I see Obi-Wan flying the ship and he turns around when he hears us coming.

“You okay Alaney?” I nod and sit down next to him.

“Are we close?”

“Yeah, we’re close. You look pale. Are you feeling okay?” I nod again. He reaches out and touches my forehead.

“You’re burning up. You’re probably dehydrated. Anakin, get her some water, please.”   
I slump in my seat as my head starts pounding again. 

“What’s up?” Obi-Wan asks.

“Nothing’s up. I feel okay.”

“You’re not a very good liar.”   
“I know. My head hurts, that’s all.”   
“We’ll be home soon. We’ll get you to the healer right away, okay?”   
“Obi-Wan?”

“Yes?” 

I see Anakin come back and decide to bring it up later.

“Never mind.”

“No, what?”

“Nothing. I’ll ask you later.”

He eyes me suspiciously but says nothing.

 

It’s not much longer before we land on Coruscant. I’m half asleep and Obi-Wan’s staring out the window when Anakin says, “We’re here.”

“Anakin, restock and service the ship, okay?” Obi-Wan says.

“Yes, Master. Wait!”

“What is it, Anakin?”

“Does the council know?”   
“Yes. I informed them we’d be arriving soon.”   
“Okay.”

“Come, Alaney. We’ll go to the healer now.” I slowly trod behind him. The pounding in my head’s getting better at least. That’s something.

“Are you okay? Can you make it there walking?” he asks me.   
“Yeah.” 

We reach the healer and Obi-Wan starts explaining to him the situation. It’s the same one we went to when we first got here. The one who was checking my midi-chlorian all those days ago. That seems like years ago. So much has happened since then. I’m pretty zoned out now and I start falling asleep again. I have absolutely no idea what the two of them were saying. 

When he speaks, Healer Agistel has a much softer tone than the first time I met him. 

“Hey, Alaney,” he says, “Lie down here, okay? I’ll help you feel better.”

I lie down and Obi-Wan walks over and crouches next to me.

“Try to get some sleep, okay?”   
I nod. 

I’m pretty much already asleep when I feel the healer inject something into my arm. I’m too exhausted to care, and I finally fall asleep without fearing a nightmare.

 

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

I leave Alaney in the good hands of Healer Agistel. At least I get to report to the council that she’s alive. Anakin’s informed me in flight that Dooku is dead. I don’t know how the council is going to react to this. Only time will tell.

I reach the council and see Anakin waiting outside. 

“Hey Master. How’s Laney?”   
“She’s alright. I told Healer Agistel to sedate her. She needs a lot of rest.”   
“That’s good. I feel like I have so much to say to her but I don’t know how to say it. I feel so bad, you know?”   
“I know. I do too. We’ll talk to her when she’s all rested up. Right now we need to talk to the council.”   
“Wait! Are they gonna be mad?”   
“I don’t know, Anakin. I don’t know. We’ll find out.”

 

The meeting with the council is much better than I was expecting. I’m sure Master Windu would’ve been angrier, but I think he was just relieved Alaney was no longer in the hands of a Sith lord. Master Yoda wants to speak with Anakin, presumably about Dooku, so I head to our quarters to hopefully get a bit of sleep. What I think is going to be a short nap turns into almost a full day of sleep. It’s nearly dinnertime when I wake up. Anakin is sitting in the living room messing around with a toolkit and some parts.

He sees me and smiles.

“Hey, Master. Sleep enough?”   
“Quite. Did you sleep at all?”   
“Nah. I will later. When can I see Laney? I really want to talk to her.”   
“I’m not sure. Hopefully she’s sleeping right now. Do you want to go check with the healer?”

“Yeah.”   
“Wait, I’ll call him. Hold on.”

I grab the com and dial his number.

“Hello?”   
“Hi Healer, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“Hey! Obi-Wan! How are you?!”

“I’m well, thank you. How’s Alaney doing?”

“Alaney, well, she’s doing alright. She was asleep until about an hour ago. Her temperature is elevated so I’m trying to get her to eat and drink first. She says she’s not hungry. So I’ll give her a little time and then if she’s still warm, I’ll give her some medicine.”   
“Hmm. Okay. How does she seem? Is she out of it or disorientated or anything?”   
“No she is quite with it! She’s quite a little joker! Just like her brother.”

“Alright, thank you Healer. If it’s alright with you, Anakin would like to come see her.”   
“Of course! Send him over!”   
“Will do, thanks. Bye now.”

“Alright, Anakin, go ahead and see her.”   
“Is she doing okay?”   
“She’s doing fine. Listen to me please, before you go. I know you feel like you need to say a lot to her, but remember that she may not be feeling everything you’re feeling.”   
“What do you mean?”   
“Well, where you might feel resentment or sorrow, she might just be feeling angry. Probably anger toward both of us, though I doubt she’d ever say it. Just try to be understanding. Keep control of your emotions.”   
“I will, Master.”   
“Very well. Go on then.”

He walks out and I watch him leave. Hopefully he doesn’t get too heated. Or lose his temper. There’s so many things I wish I could say to Anakin, but I know they wouldn’t be good for him to hear. They certainly wouldn’t help stabilize his rocky emotions.

At least everything’s okay for now. My Skywalkers are safe. Damaged, yes, but safe. We just need to figure out where to go from here.


	13. Chapter 13

***Alaney’s POV***

I’ve been in this medical bay for what feels like forever. It’s probably been like a day, though. At least I’ve got Healer Agistel to keep me company. Man, this guy is a hoot. We’ve been cracking jokes for hours. Every few jokes, he asks me if I’m ready to eat. Nope, I reply. I don’t feel the least big hungry. I actually feel kind of sick. I hear him talking on the com for a few minutes before he comes back over.

“Your brother is coming!” he says excitedly. 

Ugh. I don’t really want to talk to Anakin. I’m not ready to tell him how I’m feeling.

“Oh yeah? That’s good.” I answer, faking enthusiasm.

“Yeah! I’m gonna check your temperature again, okay?”   
“Yeah.”   
He swipes a thermometer across my forehead and glares at the screen.

“101.9 degrees?! It’s going up, then. I’m going to give you some medicine.”   
“No! I feel fine.”   
Not true. I’m feeling sicker by the minute.

“A little longer. Drink some water! It  _ will _ help. Oh, look who’s here! Ani! Little Ani Skywalker, welcome!”   
“Hey!” Anakin says, smiling and laughing a little.

“Hey Ani.” I say.

“Laney! You look so much better. You were really looking a little pale back on the ship. How are you feeling?”   
“I’m fine.”   
“Is this true?” he asks Healer Agistel.

“Her temperature keeps going up. Other than that, she’s fine. I was about to give her some medicine but she doesn’t want any.”    
“Laney…”

“What? I don’t want any more medicine.”   
“But she also won’t drink or eat anything.” The healer interjects.

Snitch!

“Laney, come on. You need to get your strength up. You’re going to get really weak if you don’t eat. Please?”   
“I’m not hungry.”   
“Come on. Just eat something small.”   
“No.”   
He rolls his eyes.

“Doesn’t her stubbornness remind you of someone?” The healer asks Ani.

“Hey! I am  _ not _ stubborn!” Anakin yells.

“Whatever you say, Ani! I’ll leave you two alone to talk, yeah?”   
“Yeah. Thanks Healer.”

Anakin takes a seat next to my bed. I sit up to face him.  

“Can we talk?” he asks me.

“Of course we can talk. What’s up?” I can tell he’s about to get really emotional.    
“I just...well I want to say a lot of things. But basically, I just wanted to say that I’m so incredibly sorry that I let everything the way it did. I was acting so irresponsibly. I’m really sorry.”

Wait, what? He’s not pissed at me?

“What do you mean you let everything happen?” I ask suspiciously.

“I mean, everything that happened was my fault. I lost my temper when I saw Dooku’s ship land so I went after him. If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have come out after me and the entire thing wouldn’t have happened. I always let my temper get the best of me.”   
“Oh. That’s uh, that’s really not what I thought you were going to say. I thought you were going to be really mad at me.”   
“What?! Why would I be mad at you?”   
“It was my fault for not listening to you. You said to stay where I was and I didn’t. So it’s not your fault, it’s mine.”   
“Don’t be ridiculous. You did what anyone would’ve done. This is in no way you’re fault. How could I be mad at you? I thought  _ you _ were going to be mad at  _ me _ .”

This actually makes me laugh a little bit.

“Then I guess we had a big misunderstanding. We both could’ve done better, yeah?”   
“Alaney, I’m not kidding here, you’re not the one to blame. You’ve never even been on a mission before this. It was completely on Obi-Wan and I to protect you.”

“Well I’m definitely not mad at you. I’m really relieved that you don’t want to like, dump me on some planet. I was so surprised when you guys appeared to rescue me.”   
“Come on now. Do we really seem like such big jerks?”   
“No…”

“Then try to see where I’m coming from.”   
“I know. I get it.”   
“Do you forgive me?”   
“Of course I forgive you, Ani. There’s nothing to forgive. But if you thought there was, it’s forgiven.”   
“Thank you. We’re family now, Laney. Nothing is more important than me to family. I’ve been searching my whole life for my family, well, aside from our mom. But I’ve been looking for her for years. And now you’re here, and you’re all I’ve got. I know us finding each other is what our parents would’ve wanted.”

Shit. I’m starting to cry a little bit. Maybe I don’t want to go back to Naboo.

“Yeah. I hope so. Ever since our dad died...I don’t know. I thought I liked being alone. I thought it was just the way it was supposed to be. But now I don’t know. It feels much better to be around other people. I don’t know…” I really start crying now. Anakin gets up and sits down next to me.

“It’s okay, Laney. You’re with us now. You don’t have to be lonely anymore, alright? We got you. I got you.”

I nod and hug him. He’s right. I can’t go back to Naboo. I never knew how much loneliness sucked until I wasn’t lonely. I stop crying and let go of him.

“We’re good right?” I ask, not even sure what I’m asking.

“We’re good. We should always talk like this. It’s better than having misunderstandings, right?”   
“Definitely.”   
“Alright, cool.” 

We sit in silence for a minute or so.   
“So do you have training today?” I ask.

“Yes.” he says, rolling his eyes. “With Master Windu.”   
“Why do you dislike him so much?”   
“He just-ugh. He’s so annoying. He thinks I’m being “irrational” and “dramatic” every time I say anything. He really hates me. You can ask Obi-Wan, like, he has never liked me.”

“Why not?”   
“Like I said, he thinks I’m too hotheaded. Even when I came here as a kid he didn’t want me to get trained. Every time I train with him he makes sure I know it.”   
“That’s so sad. And not at all a good way to act when you’re mentoring someone.”   
“I know. I really can’t stand him sometimes. And he’s still giving me crap for hitting you in the shoulder. That was like a month ago! And he doesn’t think I did it accidentally.”   
“What?! Why don’t you just talk to him and tell him what you think?”   
“I can’t. I’d get in trouble for being disrespectful. I don’t want to get into it. I’m sorry I’m bringing all this up.”   
“It’s okay. You jedi live very interesting lives. I like hearing about them.”

“Yeah, it’s certainly interesting here. Can you try to eat something now?”

“I guess so.”

He calls Healer Agistel over and asks for some food.

 

The two of us sit quietly, eating crackers and talking about nothing in particular. 

“Can I come back to you and Obi-Wan’s?” I ask after a while.

“I don’t know. That’s not my call. Healer!” 

“What, Ani? What you need?” Healer Agistel says as he walks over.

“Can Alaney be released?” he asks.

“Released? Hmm. Let me take her temperature. 99.6 degrees. Better than before, that’s for sure. But I don’t know. Why not stay here another night just to be safe?”

Anakin looks at me.

“Is that okay?” he asks.

“I guess.”

“You gotta get all the way better, Laney. What time is it? Am I late for training?! Oh no. Windu is gonna kill me. I gotta go. I’ll see you later, Laney. Bye, Healer Agistel!”

Anakin runs out and the healer and I roll our eyes in sync.

 

***Obi-Wan’s POV*** 

I’m cleaning up some tools when Anakin returns hours later. 

“Hey Master.” 

“Hello Anakin. Please tell me you didn’t forget to go to training…?” I ask hopefully.

“I didn’t!”   
“Good work then, padawan. How’s your sister?”   
“Oh, she’s so much better than yesterday. She’s much more awake. We talked for a long time and she started eating and stuff.”   
“That’s great. What did you talk about?”   
“Well...we just kind of talked stuff out. I thought she was mad at me, she thought I was mad at her. She said she thought everything was her fault and that we were both mad at her.”   
“That’s ridiculous!”   
“I know. It’s okay, though. We’re all good now.”   
“That’s great, Anakin. And how was your training?”   
“It was fine.”   
“Only fine?”   
“It was good.”   
Why does he have to be so difficult?

“Alright. I’m going to go talk to Alaney.”   
“Oh, I’ll come with you. I told her I’d come back later.”   
“I’d like to talk to her first, Anakin.”   
“How come?”   
“Did you not have a private conversation with her a few hours ago?”   
“Well, yeah. But she’s  _ my  _ sister.”   
“Oh, and she’s nothing to me?”   
“Sorry. That’s not what I meant.”   
“I know. Come by in ten minutes or so, okay?”   
“Yes Master.”

I head to the medical bay thinking about my padawan. This experience seems to have done him some good. Maybe the missing link all along for him has been his desperation for a family. Now he has a sister and he’s been more levelheaded. 

I see Alaney sitting up but facing away from me as I walk in. She senses my arrival and turns around.

“Obi-Wan!” she says happily. Anakin was right. She looks  _ much _ better. On the ship yesterday she was practically a ghost.

“Hi Alaney.” I say smiling. “Healer Agistel, I hope you don’t mind me visiting.”

“My favorite jedi! Of course!”

“How’s Alaney doing?” 

“She’s doing much better, Master Kenobi. You jedi always heal so fast. Any normal person would’ve taken weeks, and look at her!”   
“That’s great to hear. Thank you, Healer, for all your help.”   
“Anything for you guys!” He walks back into the stockroom and I walk over to Alaney.

“Are you feeling better?”   
“Yep.”

“I want to talk to you, Alaney. About a few things.”   
“Okay.”   
“First of all, I spoke with the council about everything. They’re glad you’re back, of course, but they don’t want you going on any missions for a while.”   
“How come? Is it because I screwed up?”   
“No!” I’m a little surprised at the anger in my voice. “No, I mean, you didn’t screw up. That’s not the issue at all. They’re just worried that you’ve got a bigger target on your back now. And they want you to be safe.”   
“A target on my back from who?”   
Oh boy. I think it’s time to do some serious explaining. 

“Alright, I haven’t been totally honest with you.  _ We _ haven’t. The council and myself. You see Alaney, from the moment I met you I could sense how strong your force signature is. We’ve talked about this, right?” 

She nods apprehensively.

“If, for some reason, you were to get turned over...to the dark side, you could become a force of evil.”   
“What?! What are you saying about me?” she asks, sounding hurt.   
“No...I...okay. I’m not doing a good job explaining this. Basically, Dooku kidnapping you scared us to death. Not just because we were worried about your well-being, because of course we were, but we thought he was going to try to turn you. I’m  _ not _ , by any means, saying you’re evil or weak or anything like that. But he was very powerful and you were fairly untrained. You are fairly untrained still. Do you see what I’m saying?”   
“I’m just a pawn to you guys, aren’t I?”   
Oh god. What have I done? How I presented it this way to her?   
“Of course not. That’s not what I said and it’s certainly not what I meant. What I meant was we care about you too much to let you be taken by evil.”   
She looks glum and unconvinced. I put my hands on her shoulders and look her straight in the eye. 

“Listen to me. You are no pawn to anyone. We just want you safe. Look at how much more competent you are than us! You nearly escaped by yourself!”   
She gives me small smile and I can tell she believes me.

“I’m sorry, Alaney. I misspoke.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t mean to freak out on you.”   
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about? Yesterday, on the ship, you were about to say something to me and then you said never mind.”   
“Oh…,” she hesitates. “It’s nothing.”

“What is it? You can tell me.”   
“It’s not important anymore.”   
“I would like to know.”   
“Yesterday I was just feeling really defeated and...well...I don’t know. I kind of thought I wanted to go home. Like, Naboo home. But I was wrong. I can’t go back that isolated life. I want to be here, with you guys.”   
“Good. We want you to stay here. You make Anakin so happy. His temper’s getting better, I swear it is. All he’s ever wanted is a family.”   
“Aren’t you his family?”   
I’m not sure how to answer her. Of course Anakin is my family. He’s practically my brother. But I’m not allowed to say that. No attachments, right?   
“Anakin and I have a very strong bond. But you’re his sister. That’s different.”   
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Obi-Wan?”   
“Yes?” 

“Can I ask you something else?”   
“Of course.”   
“I don’t know if it’s really an okay question. I might be overstepping my boundaries…”   
“Don’t feel hesitant to ask me, Alaney. Communication is important. You can ask me anything you like.”   
“Do you guys ever worry that Anakin could turn to the dark side?”   
Oh.

That’s not a question I was ready for.

That’s such a horrible thought for me. My padawan, turning? It’s happened before. Hell, that’s what happened with Dooku. There could be nothing worse than losing your padawan to the dark side. I’m a little lost in thought and she must see a look of distress on my face.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m sorry.”   
“No, no. I was just thinking. It’s been concern with Master Windu since we all met Anakin for the first time. Master Windu thought we shouldn’t train him because he was too old. Too, um, affected by the world already. Too emotional. But he’s learned quite a bit since then, obviously. I’d like to think he has control of his anger. Sometimes, he clearly doesn’t. But he’s a good man. He believes in fighting for what’s right.”   
“Yeah, of course. Sorry. I was just wondering.”   
“Don’t apologize. He--” I stop when I suddenly see Anakin appear in the doorway.

Speak of the devil. 

“Hi Anakin.” she says without turning around.

How does she do that? She must know whoever is around her at any given moment. I can barely sense when someone is right behind me.

“Hey Laney! How ya feeling?”   
He walks in and sits down next to me.   
“I’m good. I swear I’m getting out of here tomorrow, though. I miss training with you.”   
“Calm down now. Just because you’re well enough to leave a medical bay does  _ not _ mean you’re well enough to train.” I say sternly.

“Aw, come on Master. She’s gotta get back in there! And she needs to keep trying to beat me in a duel.”   
“I have beat you! What are you saying?”   
“Please. Don’t try to say that one time I fell off was you beating me. I still very much won that.”   
I happily zone out as the two of them tease each other.

Finally, all is well again.

The force is back in balance for the time being.


	14. Chapter 14

 

***Alaney’s POV***

I wake up early and the pounding in my head is finally gone. My bruised eye is all yellow and healing now, and aside from a few scabbed scratches, I look normal. 

I jump out of bed to find Healer Agistel and get out of here. He’s sitting at a desk with his back turned away from me.   
“Hey.” I say.

“Alaney! Look at you out of bed so early! What are you up to?”   
“It’s the morning. You said I could leave in the morning last night. So can I?”   
He laughs heartily. “Always so eager, these Skywalkers! I have to check you one more time and give you a release form to give to the council. Then you can go.”

“Alright. Let’s get to it.”

He takes a total of maybe five minutes, but I’m antsy to leave now. Finally, he fills out a form and signs it.

“Listen to me, Lil Laney. First of all, bring this form right to the council, okay? Second, I want you to come in one week from now for a checkup. Not a day late missy! Third, if you feel sick again or your head hurts or anything like that, you come right here, yeah?”   
“Yeah. I will.”   
“You promise me Lil Skywalker!”   
“I promise!”

“Alright. Go on then. Straight to the council.”   
“Okay. Thanks for all your help!” I say as I practically sprint out of the room. I’m finally out of that windowless cell. I run up to the first window I see and take a look outside. It’s not the green fields of Naboo, but it’s better than nothing. I keep looking for a few minutes before I remember that I have this form to give to the council yet no idea how to get to the room. The only place I know how to get to from here is the ship dock and Ani and Obi-Wan’s room. I walk around until I see their door and open it. I could not have been prepared for what I was about to see: Anakin making out with a girl on the couch.

“Oops! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” I practically yell as I turn around to leave.

“Shit!” Anakin yells.

This is so incredibly awkward. At least they were dressed. I’m walking out the door when I hear Anakin running behind me. He grabs my shoulder and pulls me back into the room.

“I’m sorry! I should’ve uh, knocked. I’m really sorry.” I say, not making eye contact.

“No-it’s, it’s not your fault. Sorry. This is my bad. This isn’t how I wanted you guys to meet.” He pauses and looks at the girl who’s now sitting up on the couch with an embarrassed look on her face. “Alaney, this is Senator Padm é Amidala. We’re, um, we’re dating.”

Could this get any more awkward?   
“Oh...okay. Hi.” I respond.

“Padmé, this is my little sister Alaney that I’ve been telling you about.”   
“Hi Alaney. I’m really sorry we had to meet this way. Ani’s told me so much about you!”   
I have no idea what I’m supposed to respond to this. Thankfully, Anakin starts talking.

“Listen, Laney...okay. I’m going to need you to help us out and keep this a secret. We’ve kept this hidden from everyone, the council, Obi-Wan, the Senate. It  _ needs _ to be kept secret.”   
“Yeah, okay. That’s fine. No worries.”

“It’s not just for fun, I mean. We’re not exactly supposed to do this. I’ll explain it some other time, okay? Just promise me you won’t tell anyone.”   
“I promise. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thanks Laney. Really, I’m sorry this happened like this. We should really be more careful.”   
Then why didn’t they at least lock the door? Or go in Anakin’s room? This conversation is so uncomfortable. I just want to leave.

Padmé gets up and kisses Anakin before leaving.

“Bye!” she says.

“Bye Padmé!” Anakin responds eagerly. He turns back to face me and sighs. 

“I’m so sorry. That was rough.”   
“It’s cool. Don’t worry about it.”   
“Alright. Well, anyway, you’re out of the medical bay! All cleared?”   
“Yeah. That’s why I came here. I’m supposed to bring this paper to the council saying I’m fine or whatever but I don’t know how to get there so I came to get you.”   
“Oh, okay. I’ll show you. Come on.”

I follow him out and try to think of anything less awkward to talk about. I got nothing. He keeps babbling on about directions and how to remember them and I politely pretend to listen.

“Well anyway, here we are.”   
I look up and see the door to the council.

“Can you come in with me?” I ask sheepishly.

He smiles. “Yeah, sure.”   
He opens the door and I follow him in. I’m used to seeing the whole council sitting in their circle but right now there’s only two or three people. The only one I recognize is Mace Windu and I guess I’m supposed to give it to him anyway. The two people on the other side of the room keep talking while Windu looks up at us.

“Hello Skywalkers.”

“Hi Master Windu.” Anakin says bowing. Am I supposed to bow? Oh well. 

“I have a letter from the healer for you. Well, for the council. Here you go.” I hand him the letter and reads it quickly while nodding.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better Alaney. Make sure to take it easy, alright?”   
I start to respond but Anakin interrupts me.   
“Can she train again?”

Mace Windu shoots him a glare. These two really collide a lot.

“No, Anakin. She can not train yet. She needs to get her strength up. I want you to see to it that she’s resting and not overexerting herself, is that clear?”   
“Yes Master.” Anakin sounds pretty annoyed. Mace Windu nods at us and Anakin turns to leave so I guess that means we’re dismissed.

When we’re far enough away from the room, Anakin starts complaining.

“I swear, anything I say to that man just pisses him off! Did I talk back or give him disrespect? Nope. Just asked him a simple question. Always get a death stare. It’s so annoying.” He goes on and on about it before I finally cut him off.

“Hey Ani?”   
“Yeah?”   
“Can we go somewhere?”   
“Where do you wanna go?”   
“I don’t know. Out of this building, into the city. Onto another planet. I’m just sick of being in here.”   
“I’m sorry. It does get kind of boring in here. Well, I’ll tell you what. I’d get my butt kicked if I flew us off this planet  _ but  _ I can get us a speeder and fly us around the city.”   
“Cool.”   
“Yeah? Alright. Follow me.”

We leave the building out of some sort of elevator thing and walk out onto a balcony that has ten or so speeders on it. 

“Hop into that yellow one. It’s my favorite.”   
I follow him toward the one closest to the edge and jump into the passenger seat.

“You ready to see Coruscant?” he asks.

“Definitely!”   
I am not ready for what comes next. Anakin zooms off the balcony at practically lightspeed and starts racing around the city.

“Are you trying to get us killed?!” I yell over the wind.

“Ha! You sound like Obi-Wan. Afraid of flying much?”   
“Yeah right. Bring it on.”

He continues to fly like maniac, narrowly avoiding ships and buildings as we pick up speed. He takes a sharp right and I almost fly out of the speeder.

“Put on a seatbelt!” he yells. 

I snap one on as he flies through a closing electricity gate.

“Woooooo!” he screams as he lets go of the wheel.

He is actually a maniac. We’re going to die out here. Ah, well, it’s better than being stuck in that building, right?   
“That all you got?” I ask.

He looks annoyed and rolls his eyes.

“That’s just the beginning.” He starts to spin the speeder while torpedoing down at full speed. Everything’s a glowing blur now and I have to admit, it’s a lot of fun. The stars in the sky mix with the lights of the city and I lose my grip on what’s what.

Just as we’re about to land on the street, Anakin pulls up and we glide through the wind. It feels amazing.

“That’s more like it!” I yell to him. He smiles and steps on the accelerator. We zoom into another spin. This is living. This is what I’ve been missing. If this is part of the jedi life, I’m down. I haven’t felt this alive since I was a little kid and my dad took me cliff diving. This is a whole other level of adrenaline. We fly around for what feels like an hour or so before Anakin returns to a normal speed as we approach the Temple. My hair’s strewn in every direction from the wind and my face is freezing.

“How was that?” he asks as we land.

“That was actually insane. You’re one sick pilot, man. That was so much fun. Kudos to you. I’ve never seen someone steer that well.”   
He laughs in appreciation.

“Good. Finally someone who appreciates my flying. Obi-Wan practically has a nervous breakdown whenever he flies with me.”   
“Well, I mean, that’s fair. You’re a maniac. But that’s what makes it fun.”   
“Exactly! Anyway, we should get inside. We’ve been gone a while.”

“What? How long?”   
“Close to three hours.”   
“Are you serious?! That felt like nothing!”   
“Time flies when you’re having fun, right?”   
“I guess so.”   
We walk back into the elevator and I realize my hair looks insane. I try to pull it into a braid but it’s useless. 

“You look like you got attacked by a rancor.”   
“Shut up! It’s not my fault I have long hair and you don’t.”   
“Uh huh. Sure.”   
We get out of the elevator and walk a few hallways until we get back home. Anakin opens the door and I see Obi-Wan standing inside. Yikes.

“Hey Master.” Anakin says coolly, trying to be nonchalant. It doesn’t work.

“Where have you two been? I’ve been calling your comlink for an hour only to discover it was here!”

“Oh. Sorry, master. We were just taking a little tour of Coruscant.”   
“A little tour? Do you think it’s wise to leave the Temple without a comlink? What if something happened and you were needed?”   
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. And you…” Obi-Wan says, glaring at me. “What are you doing out of the medical bay?”   
“I was cleared to leave.” I answer matter-of-factly.

“And you first thought was to go out flying with Anakin? Go lie down. Get some rest.”   
“I don’t need a-”

“Go!”

I reluctantly walk toward the extra bedroom that I’ve moved my stuff into. I try to fix my hair when I get inside but it takes a solid ten minutes of brushing before it can be braided. I hear Anakin and Obi-Wan arguing outside until Anakin leaves and Obi-Wan loudly sighs. I can sense him staring out the window before he turns around and starts walking toward my room. Oh crap. He opens the door and gives me a disapproving look when he sees me standing up.

“Alaney! What did I say? You need to rest. Just because you’re out of the Healer’s care doesn’t mean you can jump back into your normal routine.”   
Jeez. He’s not his usual calm self today.

“Okay.” I agree, lying down. “I’m sorry.”   
“No, don’t apologize. I’m sorry for snapping at you.”   
He sits down at the foot of my bed and sighs again.

“What’s wrong?”   
“It’s just-it's General Grievous.”   
“Yeah. The one who keeps escaping.”   
“Yes. Whatever I do, I can’t seem to catch him. Everything we try fails.”   
“Oh. I’m sorry, Obi-Wan. You guys are smart, you’ll get him.”   
He smiles at me and pats my leg.

“We will. One way or another, right?”   
“Is he dangerous?”   
“Well, he’s dangerous in terms of the war going on. As long as he’s alive, we can’t end this war.”   
“That’s not good. What haven’t you tried yet? How about a new strategy? What  _ have _ you tried already? I can try to help you think of a new strategy.”   
Poor Obi-Wan. I feel so much stress coming off of him. I just want to help him.

“We’ve got a new plan in place. I think it’ll work this time. I really hope so. But don’t you worry about it, okay? We’ll figure it out. Just rest now.”   
He walks out and the door closes behind him. This is really messing with him. The usual energy that surrounds him is peaceful and warm. Right now, he has negative energy darting every which way around him in a very unorganized fashion. I try to think of a way to help him but I feel myself falling asleep before I come up with anything. 


	15. Chapter 15

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

With Alaney resting and Anakin training, I’m free to go back to the archives and work on my plan to capture Grievous. How many times can I fail at this mission? I get caught up in perfecting every detail of the plan and before I know it it’s the middle of the night. I’ve been here for hours! I put away all my supplies and turn off my datapad and tuck it into my belt. The hallways of the Temple are quiet and peaceful right now. There’s no one out and about and I take time to look out the window and appreciate the view.    
Eventually I reach our living quarters and open the door. To my horror, Anakin and Alaney are standing in the living room screaming at each other. No lights are on.

“THIS ISN’T YOUR DECISION TO MAKE FOR ME!” Alaney yells.

“I’M DOING THIS TO PROTECT YOU!” Anakin yells back.

I quickly close the door behind me and run up to them.

“What in the blazes is going on in here?!?” I ask.

They both start screaming back at me at once and I can’t understand a word they’re saying. I try to decipher what they’re saying but they quickly return to screaming at each other.

“Alright! Enough! Both of you, quiet!” I shout. Shockingly, it works. They both fall silent and stare at me. 

“Now, both of you, calm down. Tell me what’s going on. One at a time! Anakin, go.”   
“Master, I had a nightmare where my mother was suffering immensely. I mean, it wasn’t a nightmare, though. It was a premonition. I felt it. She’s dying Obi-Wan! My mother is dying! I have to go save her! And Alaney told me she wanted to come but she can’t! It isn’t safe for her. Please, Obi-Wan. I have to go.”

I’m a little taken aback at hearing Anakin call me Obi-Wan twice. His voice is broken and I can tell he’s serious.

“Okay. Alaney, go.”   
“Well, everything he just said. But I have to go with him! If our mother is dying, I have to help save her! This isn’t some heroic mission for Anakin. I have every right to go too!”

Oh boy. This is a mess.

“I don’t want you to get killed! I’m not trying to go on some “heroic mission”!” Anakin goes back to screaming and they start up again with the fight.

“ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU, QUIET.”

I’m surprised with how loud my voice sounds. They are too, evidently, as they fall silent with their eyes wide open in terror. I never yell.

“We are going to get  _ nowhere _ if you two keep screaming at each other. No more yelling. Now, Anakin, I know you’ve had these kinds of premonitions before and they have always been right. Therefore, I understand that you need to go save your mother. However, I’m going to go with you. You know the council will never approve a solo mission for you. If I go, they won’t even question it.” He starts to say something but I hold up my hand. “No, I’m not done. Alaney is going to come with us. Shmi is her mother too, Anakin. I promise you, we will keep her safe.”

“You can’t keep that promise, Master! Look at what happened last time we tried to “keep her safe”! I can’t lose both of them!”   
“Anakin. Stop focusing on the negative. We will go try and save your mother and we will keep Alaney safe. Alaney: you are not all the way better yet and if you come you are not to do anything you shouldn’t do. Understood?” She nods. “Good. Pack your things. We’ll leave soon.”   
He storms off toward his room. Alaney stays frozen in place and looks back at me with her eyes still full of fear.

“Go on. Pack your things.” I say sternly. She nods and runs off.

I have a bad feeling about this.

 

It’s a matter of minutes before we’re in a ship and taking off. I got approval from Master Yoda and met the two of them at the landing bay. Anakin is flying, which is probably foolish, but he’s stressed out and he’ll only get more wound up if he can’t fly.

The tension between the two of them is so thick I could practically cut it with my saber. 

“Anakin?”

“What?”

“When you had this vision of your mother, where was she?”   


“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. I could only feel.”   


“Well how do you know she’s even on Tatooine?”

“I don’t! I don’t know what else to do!” 

“Alright. Stay calm. Keep your emotions in check, Anakin.”   
He says nothing.

“Do you understand?” I ask again.

“Yes Master.”

He falls silent again and I look back at Alaney. She’s staring straight ahead and doesn’t turn to look at me. Anakin is full of anger right now, understandably, but I don’t sense any in Alaney. She’s not as guarded as she usually is and I can sense fear coming off of her in waves. More fear than I’ve ever sensed from her. I know if I start asking her anything Anakin will interrupt and get angrier. I silently try to reach out to her through the force and to my surprise she is right there, almost as if she was waiting for me to talk to her.

_ Are you alright?  _ I ask.

_ I’m scared, Obi-Wan.  _ She replies.

_ What are you scared of? _ _  
_ _ How right Anakin is. She’s dying. She’s going to die very soon. I can feel it. _

_ What do you feel? _ _  
_ _ So much suffering. I don’t even remember ever meeting her, but I know this is her. _

_ Okay. It’s okay. We’ll be there soon. _

_ Okay. _

I feel her drift out of our connection and I too return to focusing on the flight. 

“We’re landing.” Anakin says after a while. 

“Go toward those exhaust vents. They’ll hide the ship.”   
He nods and lands amidst the steam of the vents. 

“Alright.” he says, standing up. “We need to go to Mos Espa. We’ll find Watto and I’ll ask him where my mother is. Stay here Alaney. It’s not very safe.” 

“What?! No!”   
I hold up my hand to stop her. 

“He’s right. It’s not a good city. Wait here. We’ll come back if we find out anything.”   
She glares at Anakin but remains seated as we leave.

“Wait!” she calls out. “What if someone tries to get into the ship?”   
“No one’s going to try to get in. We’re far enough from the city.” I tell her.

“Okay.”

When Anakin and I are a good distance away from the ship, he starts talking.

“I don’t like this. This entire situation. My mother is in distress and now Alaney is too.”   
“You’re overreacting, Anakin. Alaney is not in distress.”   
“She might as well be! She was lying sick in a medical bay less than two days ago and now she’s several star systems away!”   
“I know. It’s not ideal. But none of this is, right? We just have to do the best we can right now.”   
He sighs.    
“I know. I’m sorry I’ve been so angry, Master.”   
“It is quite understandable for you to be angry, padawan. This is not an easy task to face. I know you’ve missed your mother for years. I’m sorry this is happening.”   
He nods and kicks up some sand as we approach Mos Espa. We walk through the sandy streets for a while, Anakin leading, until we come upon a stand with a small winged creature inside.

“Master, I would like to speak to him alone.”   
“Sure.” I walk a few stands away but keep a watchful eye on him. He talks calmly for a few minutes before shaking his head and walking away. He’s holding a piece of paper with faded writing on it. 

“We need to go to Mos Eisley.”

“Is that where your mother is?”   
“Hopefully.”   
Hopefully. I guess that’s the best we’re going to get on this ragtag mission.

We move quickly back to the ship, saying nothing. I can feel a mix of fear and anger stirring inside of Anakin as we get closer to the ship. He seems to be keeping himself together, though. He has more of a handle on the situation than I would expect. 

We board the ship and I see Alaney jump up and turn toward us. She grabs her lightsaber off of her belt and ignites it.

“Oh. It’s you guys.” she says, returning her saber to her belt.

“A little jumpy there, Alaney?” I ask.

“Yeah. What’s the deal? What’d you find out?” she asks Anakin.

“We have to go to a different city. The outskirts of it anyway.”

Anakin takes off before I can even sit down. Always on the move, this one. The flight to Mos Eisley is extremely quick.

He lands near a few clay huts.

“Is this the right place Anakin?” I ask.

“According to Watto, yeah. Let's go.”

I motion for Alaney to follow us. We walk up to the clay hut and I stop Alaney to let Anakin go up to the door alone. A young girl answers the door and looks quizzically at each of us.

“Can I help you?”   
“Hi. I’m looking for a...Cliegg Lars? Do you know him? I have to ask him about my mother.”   
“Oh...I’ll go get him.”

“Thank you.”   
The girl returns followed by man in a powerchair who’s right leg is severed below the knee.

“Anakin?" Anakin nods. "Oh my. Your mother is not here. Come inside. We have a lot to talk about.”

We follow him into the house and sit around a table. 

“Your mother was taken by Tusken Raiders. She had gone out early,like she always did, to pick mushrooms that grow on the   
vaporatos. From the tracks, she was about halfway when they took her. Those Tuskens walk like men, but they're vicious, mindless   
monsters. Thirty of us went out after her. Four of us came back.   
Three more are still out there looking. I'd be with them, only... I just couldn't ride anymore... until I heal.” he motions at his leg. “She’s been gone nearly a month now. There’s little hope she’s lasted this long.”

Anakin stands up silently and starts walking toward the door.

“Anakin, where are you going?” I ask.

“To find my mother.”

“She’s dead! There’s nothing you can do now.” Cliegg says.

“It’s dangerous out there.” the girl adds.

He keeps walking out and we follow.

“You can take my speeder bike.” Cliegg’s son tells Anakin. There’s no point trying to stop him, is there? 

“Anakin--” I start.

“No! I’m going, Obi-Wan. My mother needs me.”

“I’m not trying to stop you. I was going to say be careful. Don’t do anything rash.”

“Oh. Okay. I will be.” He looks back at Alaney as he climbs onto the speeder. “I’ll bring her back, Laney. Don’t worry. Be safe.” 

And he zooms away. I sigh. He can handle himself, right? I look at Alaney who is staring worriedly at the now empty horizon.

“Come on. Let’s go inside.” I say to her. We’ve been travelling and flying and talking for so long now and I realize she’s probably exhausted. And that Healer Agistel is actually going to kill me when he finds out we flew to Tatooine with her. So much for following my advice of “Don’t do anything rash.” We return to the room where Cliegg and Owen are sitting.

“If you don’t mind, do you have a spare bedroom for her to rest in. She’s not quite well.” I ask Cliegg. Alaney glares at me.   


“Of course. My son will show you.” 

We follow Owen and I thank him. He leaves and Alaney sits on the bed.

“What, Obi-Wan? I’m not going to sleep. I’m fine.”   


“I know you think you’re fine. But you still need rest to recuperate.”   


“No I don’t.”

I hold back a sigh. Stubbornness is such a prevailing trait in these Skywalkers.

“We’ve been travelling for nearly a day.”   


“And?”   


“Look, Alaney, I know this is very stressful. But you have to learn to watch out for yourself.”

“I have to learn to watch out for myself?! You know I’d been living alone for two years before we met, right? I think I’m pretty good at watching out for myself.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant right now, in the present situation we’re in, you need to take more care of yourself.” She looks down at the ground and kicks the dirt. I sit down next to her on the bed. Maybe now will be a good time to have an honest conversation with her. Maybe now she’ll finally open up a bit. “Two years all by yourself, huh?”   


“Yes sir.”   


“Did you ever think about leaving your home? Going to a city?”   


“Yeah. I thought about it right after my dad died. Just cause I was so used to having him around so I was really lonely. But I got over it.”

“What was he like?”   


“He was definitely more like me than Anakin. But he was much calmer than me. Nothing could ever rile him up. And he was really smart. He taught me everything, from reading constellations to the force to building and planting and growing crops.”

“Was he force sensitive?”   


She looks pensive for a second.   


“No? Well, I don’t know. I mean yes. I guess so. He couldn’t communicate with me through the force and he couldn’t move stuff around. But he could do mind tricks on people. Does that count? And he taught me how to use it, so I guess he was.”

“That’s interesting. I would say it counts. Although some who are very knowledgeable of the force can sometimes manipulate it.”   


“Can two people who aren’t force sensitive have kids who are?”   


“Sure. The force works in mysterious ways. It’s stronger with different people for reasons no one can explain.”   


“Hmm. That is interesting. Can I ask you something?”   


“Of course.”   


“Do you know your parents?”

“No. I was taken to the Temple very shortly after I was born.”   


“Why?”   


“I guess my parents were able to realize I was very force sensitive. They had to leave me there so that I could become a jedi.”   


“So you never met them? Well, you never remember meeting them?”   


“No.”   


“Do you wish you could?”

“Not really. I’ve spent my entire life dedicated the Jedi Order. Nothing else much matters to me.”

“So you’re happy they made you become a jedi?”

“Yes. It is my path in life.”

“Does it ever bother you that you have to follow all their rules? All that “no attachments” and being so zen and repressing emotions and all that stuff. It bothers Anakin.”   


I raise my eyebrow at her.

“Did he say that?”

“No. It’s just how he feels. A lot.”

“How can you be sure?”   


She shrugs. “That’s just what I sense in him. Sometimes in you a tiny bit. But you repress it more than Anakin does.”   


“You really are very intuitive. I sense that in Anakin sometimes. With his mother. With you. He started training much later than most jedi. He was already taught normal emotions and feelings. We had to unteach him, as bad as that sounds.”   


“Poor guy.”   


“This is the life he wanted.”   


“Yeah. That’s what he always comes back to. He seems all conflicted and it makes him angry and then he tries to find comfort in the force and he does. Being a jedi makes him happy.”   


This comforts me more than I would’ve expected. So much of my time is spent worrying about Anakin’s anger and frustration. Maybe all my worry is for nothing. 

“Well?” I hear Alaney ask me.

“Well what?”

“Do you get bothered by the rules?”

“Me? No. They’re essential for jedi life. I can still feel emotions without letting them influence me.”   
“Yeah…”

Her wistful tone makes me wonder what she senses from me. Probably more than I would like. I wish I could ever sense what’s going on in her mind. If ever the time to ask, I guess it’s now.

“Now can I ask you something?”   


She chuckles. “Yeah.”

“Why do you keep such strong mental shields up? Do you not like people knowing how you feel?”   


“Yeah. I never used to. My dad and I could talk about anything. Then I was really scared when he was dead and I was alone, so I learned to just keep everything to myself. I didn’t want anyone to know I was there. Not that anybody ever comes to that part of Naboo. Aside from you two.” she says, smiling.

I never realized how much her father’s death changed her. I wonder what she was like before he died.

“You don’t have to be so guarded. As I always tell Anakin, talking through your feelings always helps you get control of your emotions.”

“I don’t know. I’ve thought about it. I never really needed to, you know? I didn’t even have anyone to talk to.”   


She breaks my heart. She was, and still is, just a kid. 

“Yeah. Think about it. It could make you stronger.”   


“Really?”   


“Of course. Open communications, balanced emotions, they’re both passageways to the force. It makes it flow more freely around and in you.”   


“Cool.”   


I realize that she’s starting to end the conversation. 

“How about trying to sleep for a while?”   


“Okay.”   


“Good. Hey, Alaney, please talk to me like this whenever you want to.”   


“I will, Obi-Wan.”

She lies down and I walk toward the door.

“And Alaney?”   


“Yeah?”   


“I’m sorry I never got to meet your father. It seems like he was a good man.”   


“He was. You would’ve liked him. But that’s neither here nor there.” 

I nod and walk out, closing the door behind me. I’m so glad I was finally able to have such an open conversation with her. I know she keeps everything inside, but it has to have been good for her to talk about her father.

I don’t want her going down a dark path. Not such a sweet kid like her. She has a bright future ahead of her, and I’m going to make sure it stays that way. 


	16. Chapter 16

***Alaney’s POV***

I wake up and see the clay walls around me and for a moment I have no idea where I am. I rub sleep out of my eyes and remember that we’re on Tatooine. Waiting for Anakin to come back.

Right.

My head’s hurting really bad again, but I know I can’t tell Obi-Wan or he’ll just start freaking out. It was nice to talk to him yesterday. I mean, really talk. I found out some things about his past, told him some things about my dad. I really love talking to him. We’re both kind of private people, so it’s nice to have such an open conversation with each other. 

I look outside and see that it’s sunny. Probably just a little after sunrise. Anakin’s been gone for hours now. I have no concept of how far he was going, but I have a feeling it shouldn’t be taking this long. I decide to find Obi-Wan and see what he’s up to. I walk out into the living room and see him typing something onto a datapad. He sees me come in and turns around.

“Good morning.” he says smiling.

“Good morning Obi-Wan.” I answer. I take a seat next to him.

“Any word on Anakin’s whereabouts?” I ask cautiously.

“No. Not yet. But I would expect that it would take at least this long.”   
Phew. That’s a relief.

“Really? Okay. Good.”   
“How are you feeling?”   
“Fine.”

“You sure?” he asks, reaching to feel my forehead. “You feel a little warm.” he says disapprovingly. 

“We’re on a warm planet.”   
He scowls at me. 

“I know we’re on a warm planet. But you still feel a little feverish. I want you to go back to the healer when we get back to the temple.”   
“I swear, I’m fine. I don’t feel sick. I don’t need a healer.”   
“Hm. We’ll see.” 

I just shake my head and watch him typing on the datapad. We sit quietly for a few minutes until I suddenly feel my stomach drop. I get a horrible feeling throughout my body. Obi-Wan looks at me and I can tell he feels it too.

We both run up the stairs and outside as fast as we can. I see Anakin pulling up on the speeder bike. Behind him, on the seat, is a body wrapped in cloth.

Oh my god.

My mother’s body.

She is dead. She is  _ dead. _

I feel the wind get knocked out of me and I fall to my knees in defeat. How can this be happening? Memories of my father’s death slip into my mind. Memories I’ve repressed for years now. His agonized screams at the end. Me begging him to let me help him. And silence. There was so much silence after he was gone. My mind goes numb and I’m wrapped in that silence all over again. The weight of it crushes me and I start to sob. I promised myself I would never cry in front of my father, so that he wouldn’t know how much I needed him. And I’ve never cried since then. I figured it would just be easier to push away all my emotions, but they’re all coming out now.

Waves of grief for the mother I never had, the mother I never even got to meet. Fifteen years of my life and not a single memory of mother, though she’s been alive all this time. Up until now. 

I feel disconnected from my body as I continue to cry. I have not cried this hard since I was a little kid. I feel like there’s years of emotion running out of me. Sadness mostly, but also anger. More anger than I’ve felt in a while. I feel out of control. I don’t have the ability to stop crying now. The tears just keep coming. Time’s moving in slow motion.

I see legs walking toward me and I feel Anakin pull me into his arms.

He’s trying to shush me, comfort me, but to no avail. My sobs aren’t my own. They’re the dead emotions that have been inside me for years. He keeps shushing me and holding me and it takes a very long time for me to begin to stop. My mind starts to thaw and I can hear again.

“Just breathe. It’s okay. It’s okay.” I hear Anakin saying to me. I inhale sharp, jagged breaths but finally manage to stop crying.

I reach an arm out to hug him back and he holds me tight.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”   
I start to breathe normally again and finally sit up as I regain control.

“Alaney...I’m so sorry.” I stare at the ground and try not to lose it. “I couldn’t-Alaney. Look at me.” I force myself to look into his eyes. They’re full of pain. “I couldn’t save her. She was too far gone.”   
I almost start crying again and stare back at the ground. He grabs my chin and pulls my head up.

“Look at me. I told her that I found you. I told her that we were both safe. She was so happy, okay? She said, “My little baby girl is alive after all this time?” And I said yes. She was so happy. She asked me where our father was. I told her that he died and she said “Thank god you found your sister. You always take care of her, for me and for your father.” And I promised I would. And then she said, “I love you. I love you so much Ani. Tell your baby sister that I never stopped loving her or thinking about her.”

I start softly crying again and he goes back to hugging me.

“I know. It’s so much to take in. But we’re going to be okay.”   
I finally manage to speak. “Thank you for trying to save her. I think she needed to know we were safe. At least she got to know.” I’m shocked at how coherent my thoughts sound out loud.

“I know. Now she knows we’re okay.”   
“And we’re both still here.”   
“Yup. And I’m always going to protect you. Just like I promised her.”

I say nothing and wrap both my arms around him. He feels so safe. I may not have my father anymore, and I will never get to know my mother, but I have him. My brother is enough for me. I finally feel an amazing sense of release as my mental shields start to dissipate. There’s no more need to be guarded. Anakin feels my guard go down and I immediately feel our bond grow much stronger. He looks down at me and smiles.

Slowly, we make our way to standing up. Nobody else is around us anymore, I guess Obi-Wan didn’t wanna intrude. But then I realize that I can feel him, where he is, what he’s thinking. My senses are much more acute now that the shields are gone. 

“I’m going to get Owen. We have to dig a grave, okay? Are you okay now?”

“Yeah.” He looks pretty worried. I guess it makes sense. I really lost it for a while there. 

“Go find Obi-Wan.”

“Okay.” I feel him watching me as I walk inside. I see Obi-Wan staring out the window inside the main room.

“Obi-Wan?”   
He turns around and looks at me with a sort of tortured expression. I can tell he wants to say something to me but he doesn’t know how to say it. Instead, he walks up to me and gives me a hug. Obi-Wan’s not really one for talking in general, but he’s  _ really _ silent right now. I can tell that he can feel me more strongly through the force and he’s kind of taken aback. Our bond is stronger too now and we kind of communicate without saying anything. He walks outside presumably to help Anakin but I stay inside. Thinking.

How can so much change is so little time? How can so many possibilities be reduced to missed opportunities so quickly? I feel like my brain is fried and all I want to do is run.

That’s what I would do on Naboo after dad died. Just run around the hills and fields and climb trees and try to escape from everything. It was good for my soul. It helped me come to terms with everything. I don’t know if that would help me now.

Everything’s changed since I came here. I didn’t want anything more in my old life. It was enough for me to farm and plant and build stuff and live so simply.

I didn’t crave adventure like I do now. I’ve seen the more exciting possibilities of life and I’m hooked on the adrenaline. Hooked on lightsaber battles and mind tricks and dangerous missions and defeating evil, as ridiculous as it sounds.

But right now, I’m too worn down and tired out from crying that I just sit down on the ground and put my head in my lap. I’m trying to think rationally now but I’m too worked up. I sit like this with my eyes closed, just breathing and trying to keep my anxiety at bay. 

It’s a little while before I hear someone coming down the stairs and I try to sit up and look normal before they arrive. It’s Anakin.

“Are you okay? Why are you on the ground?”   
“I was just sitting here.”

He looks so confused.

“What? Why?”   
“I don’t know. I just was. What’s up?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

“Uh. Okay. Come outside. We’re going to um, have a makeshift funeral. Memorial.”   
I get up and follow him out to the small cemetery the Lars’ have set up a few yards away from their house. I see a fresh mound of dirt and I feel kind of sick for a second. Obi-Wan and Owen are holding shovels and sweating while Cliegg and his daughter are standing off to the side looking upset. We all stand there in silence for a few seconds before Anakin clears his throat and starts speaking. For the first time since he came back, I see tears well up in his eyes and he chokes on his words a little.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you Mom. I did everything I could and I will never forget you. Never.” He starts to cry softly and he kneels down in front of the grave. I feel myself choking up again and I fight back tears. 

This isn’t how this trip was supposed to go. We were supposed to go to Tatooine and save her. 

Anakin stands up and abruptly looks at me. 

_ Do you want to say anything? _ he sends me through the force.

I shake my head.

After he steps aside, Cliegg talks for a few minutes about how his short time with my mom was one of the best parts of his life. Both Owen and his girlfriend say something about her kindness but I’m not really listening. We finally start to disperse and I no just want to get off of this desert. Anakin and Owen are chatting now so I walk away and lean against the side of the house.

I kick around sand for a while and avoid going back toward everyone. I really want to be alone now. If only they would lend me a ship and I could just be gone for a few days to decompress. 

We have a final meal with the Lars’ a little while later and then say some awkward goodbyes to them. Anakin is talking a mile a minute and saying that he’ll come visit them soon while Obi-Wan is profusely thanking them for their hospitality. I am, as usual, saying nothing.

We’re about to leave when I hear Cliegg call my name.

“Alaney!”   
“Yeah?” I ask, turning around slightly.

“You look out for your brother, yeah?” I just nod and turn back around.

His comment kind of pisses me off. The man has said all of two words to me the entire time we’re here. I get that Anakin is the one going out and doing the rescuing, but it’s not like I was a stranger. He was friendly to Obi-Wan too, but he didn’t even acknowledge me for almost the entire time. Why’s he now deciding to tell me to look out for my brother?   
Whatever. 

I catch up to Anakin and Obi-Wan and we walk aboard the ship. 

“I’m going to fly, Anakin.” Obi-Wan says as Anakin sits down to pilot.

“What? Why?”   
“I don’t think you’ve slept in days. Go to the back of the ship and rest for a while.” 

“I’m fine, Master.”   
“That was an order.”

“Fine.”

“What was that?”   
“Yes, Master.” Anakin says, rolling his eyes and walks toward the back of the ship.

I can tell that Obi-Wan is going to try to talk to me now. I don’t know what’s on his mind but I’m still not in the mood for a deep conversation.

“Do you want to try flying?” he asks suddenly.

Okay, that was definitely not what I was expecting him to say.

“I know how to fly.” I answer.

“I know. But you’ve never flown off of Naboo, right?”   
“Yeah.”   
“Right. So come up here and I’ll show you.”   
I get up and sit next to him.

“It’s flying in autopilot, but I can take it out. See, look.” I watch him as he switches off autopilot and puts his hands on the controls. He explains the different mechanisms of this particular ship and shows me what every switch does. It kind of takes my mind off things for a while, just flying and talking about something as simple as mechanics. I fly for a while until he says we’re going to land soon and takes over.

“Well done, Alaney. You’ll make a fine pilot one day.” he says.   
“Cool.” 

“Can you go wake up your brother? We’re almost home.”   
I nod and walk into the back of the ship to find Anakin. It’s a pretty big ship, bigger than any I’ve been on, and there’s a surprisingly large amount of doors and hallways. I finally find him asleep in a room with a single cot.

He doesn’t even look peaceful when he  _ sleeps _ . He’s always so wired and energetic and even asleep I can see energy pulsing through him. His mind never seems to stop.

“Anakin.” I say, tapping his shoulder. “Anakin! Anakin!” After a few more taps and he finally starts stirring.

“What?” he asks groggily.

“We’re almost back to Coruscant.”   
He sits up and rubs his eyes.

“Already? That was quick.”   
“Well you were sleeping.”

He nods in agreement and walks out of the room. We walk out toward the cockpit and see Coruscant on the horizon.

“Sleep well, Anakin?” Obi-Wan asks.

“Yes, Master.”   
“Good. Glad to hear it. I suppose I’m to go talk to the council now. Have Alaney help you service the ship. It’s good for her to learn these things.”   
We watch him walk out and Anakin starts to check the mechanics.

“I was flying for awhile.” I say out of nowhere.

“Really? That’s great!” Anakin answers. “Off of autopilot?”   
“Yeah. But Obi-Wan landed, even though I told him I knew how.”   
“Yeah, Obi-Wan is pretty skittish when it comes to flying. He hates doing it himself, but he also doesn’t trust anyone else to do it.”   
It takes about an hour for us to be done with the ship. Anakin is not as good at teaching as Obi-Wan, but I think that’s because he likes to do everything himself. He tells me he has a meeting to go to when we get inside and I walk back to the living quarters alone. When I get inside, I sit in front of the window and gaze at the city.

What next? Do I stay here, perpetually training but not really  _ doing _ anything? 

Do I go home at some point? 

I turn my attention back to the window and let my vision slip out of focus, searching for answers about the future, but come up empty-handed.


	17. Chapter 17

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

After debriefing the council on what happened on Coruscant, it feels like everything changes all at once. I was expecting to simply give the debriefing and leave. However, Master Yoda asks me to stay for a while to “discuss some things.” He informs me that after careful consideration, Anakin is to be knighted due to his accomplishment of killing Dooku, a sith. My own Padawan is to be knighted for the same thing as I. For me it was Darth Maul, for Anakin, Dooku. 

I’m immediately filled with pride at hearing this. I’ve trained Anakin for over ten years now, and to see him accomplish something so grand...it just fills my heart with pride. He’s come so far, especially recently, and he’s grown up in so many ways. He’s no longer a boy that I have to scold and teach, but a companion, an equal, that I can learn from myself.

I’m so deep in thought and reflection that I don’t notice the council still talking to me.

“Obi-Wan?” Master Windu asks.

“Yes. Sorry.” I answer quickly.

“With the heightened tensions going on in the war, we think Anakin being knighted is the best course of action. He will be a strong asset to us if he can be in command of separate battles from you and our other jedi leaders.”   
“I completely agree.” I say honestly.

“There’s another thing we need to discuss.” Master Windu sighs and looks somewhat despondent. “Obi-Wan, we think that you should take Alaney as your next padawan. She is, of course, much older than the ideal age to start training, but we feel it is too great a risk for her to not be trained under the jedi order. Seeing as it’s a similar situation as Anakin, and the work you’ve done with him, we agree that you would be the best to train her.”   
This thought has never occurred to me before, but it makes  _ perfect _ sense. Alaney should become a jedi. She is already extremely powerful, a great fighter, destined to be a good pilot too. She has a balanced mind and good morals. And we obviously have a strong bond. Why wouldn’t I train her?

“Masters, I would be completely willing to train Alaney. I already know her fairly well, and I’ve seen what she’s capable of. I believe she will be a very competent jedi.”

Master Windu continues speaking. “Yes. But there is one hesitation, Obi-Wan. As I’m sure you remember, I myself was very concerned when you took Anakin as a Padawan. He’d already been raised for nine years with a loving mother and a harsh owner. We were all concerned that these early attachments would influence him negatively as a jedi, possibly even lead him on a path to the dark side. We have these concerns now as well. Alaney’s much older than nine, and much more mature than a child. It’s imperative that you keep a close eye on any indications of her going down a bad path. Power can get to one’s head very quickly.”   
“Of course. She is already very powerful and I’ve seen no indication of anything negative in her.”   
“Yes. It’s just very important that you work hard to teach her the ways of the light side of the force and the ethics we follow as jedi.”   
“I understand. But Master Windu, what if she does not want to be trained?”   
He hesitates before answering. 

“Being trained is something she desires.” Master Yoda interrupts. “Felt it, I have, deep within her. A very strong desire to fight evil, she has. Discuss it with her soon, you must.”   
“Yes, Master Yoda.” I bow to the rest of the council and walk out. 

This is a  _ lot _ to think about. I know without a doubt that Anakin will be thrilled on every aspect. He’s felt ready to be knighted since he was sixteen, and it’s finally going to happen for him. I’m sure he’ll also be happy if Alaney is going to become a jedi. My only concern is that she won’t want to. Not that I don’t trust Master Yoda, of course I do. But something tells me she’ll be hesitant about this decision. 

Well, there’s no point stewing over it. I’ll have to talk to her myself and see what she thinks. I assume that they’re done with the ship and hopefully in our quarters. I walk there quickly, trying to be patient and calm as I embark on this important conversation. 

I walk into the living room and see Alaney sitting in front of the window, but Anakin nowhere in sight.

“Hi Obi-Wan.” she says without turning around. She always does this and it never fails to surprise me that she can identify anyone by just their presence.

“Hey. What are you doing?”   
“Not much. Just thinking.”   
“Yeah? Where’s your brother?”   
“I dunno. He said he had a meeting with someone.”   
A meeting? Anakin?

“With who?”   
“He didn’t say.”   
“Hmm. Alright. Can we talk?”   
She turns around now and starts to get up. “Sure.”

I sit down at the table and motion for her to join me. She sits down and looks at me quizzically. 

I try to calm down and take a deep breath before I start talking.

“I’ve just come from talking to the council, Alaney. A few decisions have been made. First of all, Anakin is going to become a jedi knight. He-”   
“Really?!? He is?! He’s going to be so happy!” she interrupts.

“He is.” I say smiling. “He’s going to do very well as a knight.”   
“Does he know yet?”   
“No. The council is going to tell him later today.”   
“That’s so great. He’ll really be thrilled. He’s ready. Do you think he’s ready? I think so.” She’s talking a mile a minute.

“Yes, I think he’s ready. But that’s not all I have to talk to you about.”

She falls silent.

“Is something wrong?” she asks cautiously.

“No. Not at all. Alright. Well, now that Anakin is going to be knighted, he’s no longer going to be my Padawan. The council wants me to train you to become a jedi.”

I study her face and attempt to read her emotions but her expression is blank. She says nothing for several seconds but it feels like hours as I wait in suspense for her to answer.

“You mean  _ I _ can become a jedi?  _ Really _ ?” she finally says.

I’m instantly relieved.

“Yes. It’s not an easy thing, Alaney, but we all agree it’s best for you. For your future. What are you thinking?”   
“I want to do it.” she says matter-of-factly.

“Okay. We have a lot to talk about then.” I clear my throat and try to figure out where to start. “Do you remember what we were talking about the other night, back on Tatooine? When I was telling you about the jedi order?”   
“Yes.”

“And remember how I told you that being a jedi was my path in life too?”   
“Yep.”

“Well, I think it’s your path too. It’s come later than most jedi, later than your brother even, but that doesn’t really matter. Do you think it’s what you’re supposed to do?”   
“I think so. I mean, I’ve kind of felt like everything was supposed to happen the way it did ever since we met. It was just too weird to be a coincidence. My brother I’d never met before, crash-landing on the exact coordinates of the remote part of Naboo that I lived on? It was all too weird to just  _ happen _ . So if this is what’s coming next, then I’m all for it.”   
“You’re wise beyond your years, you know that?” I say in awe. She blushes a little and smiles at me.

“Alright.” I continue. “Like I said, this isn’t an easy path. Being a jedi is a commitment for life. A commitment of your mind, body, and soul. It’s not a simple task either. It’s not going to happen overnight.”   
“I know. I’m ready to work for it.”   
“I know you can do it. You’ve already learned so much in the short time that I’ve known you.”   
“And you’re going to train me? Am I basically taking Anakin’s spot as your Padawan?”   
“Essentially. Except that he’s passed the level of Padawan so the spot isn’t being  _ taken _ from him.”   
“Do you think he’ll be okay with this?”   
“Why would he not be?”   
“I don’t know. I don’t want him to feel like he’s being replaced.”

“I don’t think he’s going to feel that way. But I’m going to talk with him after he talks to the council and gather his thoughts on everything. Do you have anything you want to ask me?”   
“No. Not yet. But I want to thank you.”   
“Why?”   
“For training me. It seems like it’s a pretty big undertaking, and you were about to be free of a Padawan for the first time in ten years, but instead you agreed to train me. So thank you.”   
“Don’t thank me. It’s the right thing for you.”   
“Okay.” I can tell that she’s hesitating and wants to say something.

“Hey Alaney, I want you to really listen for a second. If we’re going to do this, I can’t have any more of you keeping in your emotions and hiding your feelings, okay? Communication is key. You know I tell Anakin that all the time, and I mean it. Tell me when something’s bothering you, don’t let it stew in your mind.”   
She nods but says nothing.

“Do you understand?”   
“Yes. I understand.”   
“Is something bothering you right now?”   
“No.”   
“Are you  _ sure _ ?”   
“I’m sure. Nothing’s bothering me, I’m just thinking.”   
“Alright. I’m going to go check in with the council, see if they’ve spoken to Anakin yet.”   
“Okay.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”   
“Okay. See you later.”   
I walk out of the room feeling a mix of things. Mostly excitement because Alaney does seem to really want this. A little bit nervousness as well, mostly because of what Master Windu was emphasizing before.  _ The many dangers of her training _ . Still, I’m confident that she’s going to be successful. 

Just as I reach the council, I see Anakin walking out. He runs up to me and has an excited, boyish smile on his face.

“Master! I’m going to be knighted!” he says excitedly. 

“I heard! I am so proud of you, Anakin.” Before I can say anything else, he pulls me into a hug. He really is excited.

“Thank you, master. I owe it all to you.”   
“Of course not. You’ve worked so hard your whole life. You deserve every bit of this.”   
“Thank you, Master. I have to go tell Alaney!”

“Wait! I have to talk to you first. It’s about your sister.”

We duck into a nearby hallway and I check that no one is around.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, sounding exactly like Alaney.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m going to be frank with you. You deserve every bit of being knighted, but it’s being rushed like this because of the state of the war. We need you out there fighting as a leader.”   
“Right. I know that, Obi-Wan.”   
“There’s something else. The council wants me to take Alaney as a Padawan. She is to become a jedi.”   
“Seriously?! That’s wonderful!”

I feel a flood of relief as Anakin confirms that he supports this. 

“Yes. The council feels that I would be best suited to train her, seeing as she is your sister.”   
“Well, yeah. Of course. I would train her myself if I was older and more experienced.”   
He sounds so mature and grown up as he says this. He’s no longer young and arrogant. He really has turned into a modest man.

“I’m glad you feel this way, Anakin. We’re going to inform the council of her decision shortly.”   
“You told her already?”   
“Yes. I was worried that she would be hesitant to say yes, but I was wrong. She’s very eager to get started.”   
“This is great. I mean it’s crazy, just like that, everything changes. But it’s change for the better, don’t you think?”   
“I do.”   
“Let’s go. I want to tell Alaney.”

I follow him out and hope Alaney acts surprised when Anakin tells her. Everything does seem to be working out, for now. When we get home, Alaney is no longer in the living room.    
“Laney?” Anakin calls out.   
“I’m in here.” she responds from her room.

We both walk into the room and see her rummaging through her bag for something.

“What are you looking for?” Anakin asks.   
“I was just looking for a stone. It’s nothing.”   
“Come sit down. I have something to tell you.”   
The three of us sit on the couch in the living room and Anakin looks so excited he’s practically glowing.

_ Alaney, act surprised. For your brother’s sake. _ I send through the force to her.

She nods her head and smiles just slightly enough for me to see.

“I’m going to become a jedi knight, Alaney!”   
“You are? That’s great, Anakin! Congratulations!” She reaches up and gives him a hug.   
“Thank you Laney. Congratulations are in order for you too, I hear. You’re going to be a jedi as well. It’s all happening in the Skywalker family, huh? I’m proud of you, little sis.”   
“I’m proud of you too.”   
I love watching the two of them together. They have such a healthy admiration and respect for each other that’s developed so quickly and naturally. 

“Come, Alaney, we’re going to go tell the council.”   
“Can I come?” Anakin asks.

“No, and I mean this lovingly Anakin, but this matter does not concern you.”   
“I guess you’re right.” he answers glumly. “The end of an era, huh Obi-Wan?”

“Not so, Anakin. Neither of us are going anywhere. We’re just refocusing our priorities. You know what we say.”   
“Your focus determines your reality.”   
“That’s right.” I say proudly. I smile at Anakin and walk into the hall, my new Padawan at my side. Ten years ago, when it was still Qui-Gon and I, I never saw myself being much of a teacher. But looking at Anakin, I have to feel differently. I helped him grow and change into the person he became and I’m confident I can do the same with Alaney. 


	18. Chapter 18

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

Alaney and I are finally done talking to the council. She was with them alone for almost an hour before I was brought back in. I’m assuming Master Windu was talking most of the time, probably reading every rule in the book and trying to observe her reactions. After I was brought back in, Alaney was sworn into the Order as my Padawan.

It was a much less intense experience than with Anakin. When he was sworn in, I had just lost Qui-Gon and I felt barely able to handle the task I was being given. Now, I’ve been through everything and I’m prepared. The only thing I’m worried about is Anakin at this point. I know how protective he is of his sister and I think it’ll be hard for him to let her do things on her own.

The first thing we have to do is make her her lightsaber. It’s every jedi’s first real honor, and it’s important. Master Yoda told me to do it as soon as possible, so we’ll be headed out shortly.

We’re about to leave when Anakin comes bursting through the door to our quarters.

“Alaney!” he yells. 

“What?” she answers as she walks into the living room.

“Someone wants to meet you.” he answers.   
“Who?”

“His name is Sheev Palpatine. He’s the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. He’s in charge of, well, everything. And he I are friends. I just finished telling him about you. He wants to meet you himself.”   
This makes me angry almost instantly. I’ve never really trusted Palpatine, and I’ve certainly never liked the way he plays with Anakin’s mind. He’s not getting to Alaney, too.

“Well, Anakin, he’ll have to wait until we return.” I answer.

“Return from what?” he asks suspiciously.

“Alaney has a lightsaber to build.”

“Why can’t you leave  _ after _ she meets the Chancellor?” he says with more attitude.

“This is important.”   
“Master, are you disrespecting the Chancellor’s authority?”

“Not disrespecting, Anakin. Disregarding. Alaney, let’s go.” SHe follows me out and waves at Anakin as we leave.

“What was that all about?” she asks me in the hallway.

“I’ll tell you in the ship.” I answer rather harshly. She falls silent for the rest of the walk to the ship.

Once we’ve left Coruscant, I start explaining things.

“The Chancellor is not a bad man, Alaney. I want to start by saying that. But he’s very power-hungry, and he’s more corrupt than other politicians even are. At least in my opinion. Your brother absolutely idolizes him, for some reason, but he has too much power and influence for one man. He oversteps in the relationship between the republic and the jedi order.”   
“Is there a bad relationship between the two?”

“No. But the issue is, well, he expects the jedi to sort of work for him. We’re not an army to anyone. We’re peacekeepers. It’s just been a rising problem because of him.”   
“Ah. So that means I can’t meet him?”   
“You’ll meet him when we get back. I just like to sometimes subtly remind him that he’s not the General of some army made up of us jedi.”   
She chuckles a little and smiles.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing. It’s just a funny form of passive aggressiveness.”

“Sure.” I say rolling my eyes. I have her fly for a little while before it’s time to land.

 

***Alaney’s POV***

It’s been awhile since we landed on Ilum and I can’t believe I’m holding  _ my _ lightsaber. The handle is pretty thin and the metal has this cool blueish tint. The saber itself is blue, which I still don’t understand. Obi-Wan probably talked about it for three hours after I asked if I get to pick what color it will be. “It’s not something you pick. The crystals are predestined to be a certain way.” he said before launching into the history of kyber crystals. Building it was tedious, because the tiniest malfunction could ruin it. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, truly. I’ve been holding it for hours just igniting it over and over again. It’s crazy. To anyone else it’s just a weapon, but I already feel this deep connection to it. It’s suddenly become a part of me, even though it’s brand new. I’m still sitting outside the ship on some rocks when Obi-Wan reappears from inside.

He takes a seat neck to me and smiles as I act like I wasn’t just staring at my saber in awe. 

“Are you happy with how it came out?” he asks.

“Totally. I love it. Thank you so much, Obi-Wan.”   
“Don’t thank me. It’s  _ your _ saber. This weapon is your biggest ally after the force, understand? You protect this weapon with your life, and you use it to protect the good of all of the galaxy. It’s never to harm anyone or anything innocent. It’s never to be used for revenge, for hate, or anything evil.”   
“Of course.”   
“You’re going to be a great jedi, Alaney.”   
“Thanks, Obi-Wan.”

“Are you ready to go?”   
“Yeah. I have to fight Anakin with this new and improved saber.” Obi-Wan gives me a disapproving glare. “I mean, um, bring peace to the galaxy with this new and improved saber.” He rolls his eyes at me and we board the ship. I fly most of the way home, which is pretty fun. Flying comes as naturally as walking to me, though I can tell it makes Obi-Wan nervous to not be in control. I can tell that he’s about to tell me to switch with him so that he can land, but he’s going to have to let me do it someday.

“I can land, Obi-Wan.” I tell him.

“Another time.”   
“Alright.”

I’m about to leave the ship when we land but Obi-Wan puts his hand up to stop me. 

“Hold on. I’m going to go with you to meet the Chancellor.” he says.

“Where’s hif office?”   
“It’s in the Senate building.”   
“Where’s that?” 

“A little ways away. We have to fly.”

Something seems really off about this Chancellor guy. I’ve never seen Obi-Wan so apprehensive of someone. I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to meeting him now. We walk outside to the place where all the speeders are and I hop into the front seat of the one Obi-Wan picks. We fly through Coruscant in a  _ much _ less intense way than with Anakin. He lands on a dock coming off a huge, circular building. It’s a massive structure, and it looks completely different than the temple. 

“Remember what I said earlier about the Chancellor?” Obi-Wan asks as we walk in. “He’s not a bad man. And he is  _ very _ important for the Senate. You are to treat him with the utmost respect.” 

“Yes sir.” I respond. I don’t know what it is, but it feels too weird to call Obi-Wan “master.” I get that I’m his apprentice and that it’s the title he has, but it just feels weird to say. We have such a casual and mutually relaxed relationship that it doesn’t fit. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by me not saying it though, so I’ll just stick to Obi-Wan and sir if he’s saying something important. 

The inside of this building has the same kind of regality as the temple but it lacks the peaceful atmosphere. There’s stress and tension resting in the walls of this building. We take a glass elevator up several floors before walking into a giant room carpeted in red and gray. 

“Wait here.” Obi-Wan says to me. I stand by the window looking at Coruscant and how high up this building is. This guy really must be something big. I hear footsteps coming back and return to the center of the large room. Obi-Wan walks out accompanied by a rather frail looking old man dressed in a giant purple cloak.  _ This _ is the Chancellor?   
“Hello young Alaney.” the old man says to me. “My name is Sheev Palpatine. I am the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. What an honor to finally meet you. Please, come in.” he says motioning to the massive doors in behind him. I don’t really know what to say so I just walk into the room. Obi-Wan starts to follow but the Chancellor stops him.

“Your presence won’t be necessary, Master Kenobi.”   
“No?” Obi-Wan questions with a raised eyebrow.   
“Not at all.” the Chancellor responds.

What the hell? I don’t know how to talk to this man alone!

I stand perfectly still in his huge office waiting for him to tell me what to do. There’s a big desk in front of a bigger window and several armchair-ish things in front of the desk.

“Please, have a seat.” he says as he sits behind the desk. 

I sit down at the chair on the end and sense Obi-Wan’s anxiety/annoyance through the force. 

“Alaney Skywalker. The  _ sister _ of young Anakin Skywalker. How does it feel to be reconnected with your brother?”   
“Um, it’s great. Sir. He’s a great guy.”   
“That he is. I hear that you are even more powerful than he is. And that you are becoming a jedi now, yes?”   
“Yes sir. I’m becoming a jedi. But I wouldn’t say I’m more powerful than Anakin.”   
“No? Why not?”

“He’s much more skilled than I am. I would hope to be even half as good a jedi as he is.”

“You may be more powerful than you know, my dear child. Is that your new lightsaber?” he asks as he points to my belt.   
“Yes sir.”

“May I see it?”   
I nervously unhook my saber and hand it to him. He runs his creepy fingers over the handle and stares it with an intense expression.

“It’s a beautiful weapon. You should be very proud. This is a great source of power for you. Do you enjoy having this much power on your hands now?”   
Why is this guy so obsessed with my power?

“It’s a great tool for me to have, yes.”

“Well, Alaney, I’m so glad that you’re here to defend the republic alongside your brother. These are trying times. But you two could really be an...amazing duo. Or perhaps, you will become a better fighter than Anakin...” he says thoughtfully. This guy is really giving me the creeps.

I just nod and try to will this conversation to end. 

“I have great faith in you, child. I am confident you will be a great asset to us.”   
“Thank you, sir.”

“Well, I suppose you’ll be wanting to test out your new weapon. Here you go.” I pause for a second to reach for my saber, and for the smallest moment I could’ve sworn he handed it to me through the force. Force sensitive leader of the republic? “You may go back to your master. Farewell, Alaney. I hope to see you again soon.”

“Thank you sir. Nice meeting you.” I say as respectfully as I can. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to bow at him, so I do, and then try to walk calmly out of his office.

“Do close the door on your way out, please.” he calls after me. 

I practically slam it behind me as I leave.

Obi-Wan jumps up from the bench in the huge room and walks up to me. He tries to look less anxious and annoyed than he is, but I can see through it.

“Ready to go?” he asks.

“Yep.”   
We say nothing as we walk back to the speeder. The ride home is silent too, and I can tell it’s because Obi-Wan won’t talk trash when there’s a chance of anyone overhearing. It’s not until we step foot in our quarters and the door closes that he says anything.   
“What did the Chancellor say to you?” he asks.

“He didn’t say much. He asked to see my lightsaber. And he told me that I would be a better jedi than Anakin, which seemed like kind of a weird thing to say.”    
“What? What  _ exactly  _ did he say?”

“I don’t know. He said that we could be good duo. Or that “perhaps I could become even better than him.” I don’t know. Something along those lines.”   
Obi-Wan’s eyes narrow and I can feel the anger rise a bit inside of him. 

“Can I ask a question, Obi-Wan?” I ask.

“Of course. What is it?”   
“Is the Chancellor a jedi?”   
“ _ What _ ? What makes you say that?”   
“I felt something weird in the force around him. And then when he handed me back my lightsaber, I don’t know. It felt like he just passed it to me through the force. I was probably just imagining it, but I just thought I would ask.”

“He’s not a jedi. No. Not at all.” Obi-Wan says. “Why don’t you go find your brother. Go train with him. Show him your lightsaber.”   
“Okay.” I hesitate as Obi-Wan’s face gets more confused than angry.

“Go on.” he says more sternly.

I leave the room and try to think about why he’s mad at the Chancellor. Is it just his skepticism? Or is something really off here?

I find Anakin in the training center climbing up and down a wall as fast as possible. 

“Ani!” I yell up to him. He drops to the ground and lands directly in front of me.   
“Hey! You’re back!” he says slightly out of breath. He glances down at my belt. “Let me see your saber!”

I reach down to unhook it and hand it to him.

“Wow.” he says as he looks it over. “It’s perfect for you.”

“Thanks. Can we duel? Now that I’ve got  _ my _ weapon, I’m going to win.”

“Pff. Sure you are. Let’s go. Wait. Did you go see the Chancellor yet?”   
“Yeah.”   
“Isn’t he a nice guy?”    
“Uh, yeah. He was nice. Seems to like you a lot.”   
“Really? He is such a good role model. He’s one of the people I look up to most.”   
I just kind of nod and gesture back to our duel. 

He throws his robes on the ground and we step up onto the platform. My saber ignites and Anakin looks at it with an impressed expression.

“Blue? Nice. We match.” he says as he ignites his saber too. We circle each other before he suddenly jumps at me. I immediately notice a difference in fighting with my new weapon. Before, I could kind of sense what Anakin would do before he did it. Now, I can see it clearly and my saber does the motions for me to defend. He can tell that I’m better now and I see his eyes narrow. 

Out of the corner of my vision, I see Mace Windu watching us alongside Yoda. Now we’ve got an audience.

Our sabers clash in perfect unison and I realize that our connection through the force makes us even more evenly matched. We fight for a solid two minutes with no one gaining the upper hand before I finally slip under his swing and knock his saber out of his hand. He looks so surprised but reluctantly falls to his knees in defeat. 

“Damn! Nice work, kid!” he says in awe. Thankfully, he doesn’t sound mad that I beat him.

I see Mace Windu approach us and he’s eyeing me kind of suspiciously.

“That was a good move, Alaney. Well done.”   
“Thank you.” I say as I try to catch my breath.

“Anakin, step down for a minute.” Windu says. “I’d like to try something with her.”    
Anakin makes an annoyed expression at him that only I can see and I try not to smile. He grabs his saber and hooks it onto his belt as he prepares to watch us. 

“I’m going to try something on you now that comes from a style known as Makashi. Do your best to defend.” Mace says as he ignites his purple saber.

“What about Vaapad?” Anakin asks.

“Not yet.” Mace answers.

I have no idea what that means but I ignite my saber and get into a defensive stance.

When he attacks, I can feel that there’s much more precision in the attack than the defense with this form of combat. I feel virtually no connection in the force between us and I have no idea what he’s going to do with each move. I manage to fend him off for a little while but his attacks are well placed and I find myself losing ground. I finally lose my footing and land hard on the ground. I’m about to jump up and fight back but he’s right there above me, his saber positioned over my neck by a few inches. I drop my weapon in surrender.

“That wasn’t bad, Alaney. The thing to keep in mind is that while we might train one way, Sith and other duelers can train in different forms. There’s seven common forms of lightsaber combat, right?”   
“Right.” I answer.

“If you fight a Sith, they commonly might be trained in Niman or Mikashi. But it’s important to learn how to defend yourself against any of the forms.”   
“Okay.” I say nodding.

“Let’s try it again.”   
His second attack is just as tough but I’m more prepared. I stop focusing so much on defense and try to channel my strength into offense. Whereas he was forcing me off the platform last time, I’m now making  _ him _ back up. He turns up his intensity and takes back the upper hand. I jump to avoid a hit to the legs and almost manage a hit at his right arm. This goes on for a little while and I start to get exhausted. We’re both sweating and I guess he’s actually being forced to put up a fight against me. Finally, my arms feel too weak and I narrowly miss an attack. He sees me weaken and hits my saber with a powerful slash that knocks it out of my hand. Damn. So close.

I begrudgingly fall to my knees in defeat. 

“Much better.” he says as I get back up. 

“Are you going to do Vaapad now?” Anakin asks again.

“Not yet,  _ Anakin _ .” Mace answers in an annoyed tone. “She’s not ready for it.”

Anakin looks irritated but says nothing else.

“Alright Alaney. This is the final round. I want you to try to focus on your inner emotions this time. Really channel what you’re feeling through the force and push it outward as a powerful defense and offense.”   
“Okay.”

We position ourselves and I try to do what he said. I can feel the force swirling around me like a gentle breeze and I notice something off about him. The force is in harmony and balance around everyone in the room except him. He’s got to be in conflict of some kind. There is  _ something _ that’s bothering him or making him doubt himself. I’ve got to try to focus on his vulnerability if I have any chance of winning this round. As soon as our sabers clash, I can feel energy building inside of me like a ray of power. The force guides me as my energy targets him in the midst of my attack. I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, but it seems to be working. He looks almost  _ weak _ as he struggles to fend me off and I let the power surge and build inside of me. There’s almost a sense of anger inside of me and I don’t know why. My arm moves as fast a machine and Mace Windu nearly falls of the platform. I get tunnel vision and I feel like I’m no longer controlling my body but rather this sudden rage inside of me is. It’s definitely confusing, but I can’t say I don’t like it. I’ve never felt this powerful before. With one final blow I knock his purple saber out of his hand and he looks stunned. I finally snap out of the power trance I’m in and look around to see a look of shock on Anakin’s face as well. 

“That...was...very well done.” Mace Windu says in between breaths. He sounds almost, I don’t know, scared? “I can tell...you were able to really...channel your emotions. Well done.”   
“Thank you Master Windu.” I answer quickly.

“Come with me. It’s important to meditate after dueling in that particular form of combat.”   
I nod and quietly follow him out of the room. I see Anakin still looking surprised out of the corner of my vision and I roll my eyes at him. 

Mace walks into one of the many meditation rooms in the temple and I sit down on a cushion next to him. He guides me through a meditation and I can’t stop focusing on how powerful I felt for a second back there. I try to focus on what he’s saying as well as the force but I keep breaking concentration. The only thing I  _ can _ focus on is how much I need that sense of power again. 


	19. Chapter 19

***Obi-Wan’s POV***

I’ve just spent almost two hours trying to figure out Palpatine when I get interrupted by a com call from Mace Windu.

“Obi-Wan, meet me in my quarters as soon as you can.” I hear through the comlink.

“Yes Master. On my way now.”   
What’s going on now? He sounded urgent. I try to put my thoughts and frustration about Palpatine aside as I head over to his quarters. I knock and he immediately tells me to come in.

“Master Windu.” I say bowing.

“Hello Obi-Wan. Close the door please. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

I wave the door shut and join him at the table. He looks more weary than anything else and I wonder what it is he’s about to say.

“I was just practicing a few different styles of combat with your Padawan. She has gotten  _ much _ better, Obi-Wan. Have you seen her duel recently?”   
“Last I saw was awhile ago, probably before the entire incident with Dooku.”   
“Yeah. Well, she’s easily surpassed my skill level and I believe Anakin’s as well. I think she’s beginning to realize just how powerful she is.”   
I raise my eyebrows in doubt.

“How can she have surpassed you, Master? She’s hardly been trained since last I saw her and she went through quite an ordeal physically.”   
“I know. I think the ordeal might be what’s caused it. Whatever she felt from Dooku, whether it was more anger, fear, or anything negative, I think she’s learning to channel that into her power. I told her that she needed to try to channel her emotions, but I didn’t realize it would give her such a tremendous leap in ability. I feel that there might be real danger here if she feels so much power at once.”

“Danger how? You think she’ll be drawn toward the dark side from this?” There’s a hint of anger in my voice at hearing Mace’s slight accusation of Alaney.

“No. Not necessarily. But I do feel that it’s dangerous for her to become more powerful so quickly. I think it can be confusing and overwhelming for anyone, especially someone as young as her.”

“Yes, of course, I agree Master. I can see what you’re saying.”   
“That being said, I’m not completely sure how to proceed. There’s obviously nothing we can do that will guarantee her path. We’ve got to do everything we can to keep her on track. I need you to watch her more closely than ever. Keep those lines of communication open, okay? Every mission, every meeting, whatever it may be, talk it out. See how she reacts. Lots of meditation as well.” He pauses as if he’s going to say more but then I realize he’s done speaking.   
“Master Windu, you have my word that I’ll do my best to keep her on track. I don’t share your concern but I will do as you say.”

He sighs before answering and I can tell this is weighing heavily on him. “Alright. That’s all, Obi-Wan.”   
“Okay. And I just, I want to add something else. I really think Anakin has grown up a lot because of all this.”   
“I agree. But he still has plenty of growing to do.”   
“Of course.”   
I say goodbye and leave his quarters feeling drained from this entire conversation. I’ve worried about Anakin going down a dark path for so long but I feel like he’s finally safe in some way. Now I’ve got Alaney to worry about. And I’m certainly not done worrying about Palpatine and whatever influence he’s having on my Skywalkers. 

I debate whether or not I should meditate before going back home but I feel too worked up and decide against it. When I walk into our quarters I see Anakin lounging on the couch, looking half asleep. He looks up when I come in and smiles at me.

“Hey Master.”   
“Hi Anakin. What are you up to?”   
“Nothin. You?”

“Looking for your sister. Where is she?”   
“She went out for a walk. Said she needed to “cool off” or something. I don’t know.”

“A walk where?”   
“I’m assuming around the temple.”

“Cool off from what?”   
“She and Mace Windu were dueling. It got a little heated.”   
“Alright. I’ll call her comlink.” The second I call it I hear vibrating coming from her room. Sure enough, it’s sitting on her desk.

“Anakin, why can’t the two of you ever remember that you need to have your comlink on you at all times?!” I yell into the living room.

“I dunno.” he responds apathetically. Ugh. I almost walk back out but then I realize that I’ve never really looked at her room. It’s almost perfectly neat aside from her desk. The bed is made, there’s no clothes on the floor, no trash strewn about like Anakin’s, but the desk is covered in papers and rocks and other little knick knacks. Her satchel that she takes everyone is gone, meaning it must be with her, and as I look closer I see that the rocks are all resting on different pieces of paper with writing that identifies what they are. On the top of each paper I see that it says “Stuff that isn’t from Naboo” in a messy scrawl. It’s such a simple, nonchalant little activity to collect rocks from different places but it obviously must be fascinating for her to see. It warms my heart to think of her collecting and recording all of this. 

I stop myself from looking any further into her personal things and walk back into the living room with her comlink.

“You two should really keep this with you at all times.” I say sternly to Anakin.

“I’ve got mine right here.” he responds as he waves it in front of me.

“Well, now you do. But you usually don’t.”

I sit down next to my former Padawan and realize how grown up he looks.

“How are you doing in your first few days as a knight? Is it challenging?” I ask him.

“I haven’t really had to do anything different yet. Been to a few meetings and trainings but not a mission. Yoda said I will be getting one soon, though.”   
“Do you feel ready?”   
“Yeah. Totally. It’ll be easier to go on one without having to save your life, Master.”   
I laugh at his usual arrogance. 

“More like you’ll have to worry since I won’t be able to save  _ yours _ .”   
“Uh-huh. Sure Master. Whatever you say.”   
“You know, Anakin, you can call me Obi-Wan now. You’re my equal.”   
“Maybe.”   
“What do you mean maybe?”   
“It feels kind of weird to say. Maybe after awhile.”

“Fine.” I say smiling. “Whatever you want.”    
There’s a part of me that’s scared to death of Anakin being out on his own and fending for himself. But there’s an even bigger part that knows he is so skilled, so adept at everything he does, that he’ll probably be the one to bring peace to this entire galaxy.

I’m so focused on how proud I am of him that I completely forget what I’m supposed to be doing for a moment. But, there’s nothing I can do until Alaney comes back so I sit back and enjoy some simple quality time with Anakin.

***

Anakin and I talk for about an hour before I start to get a little worried about where Alaney is.

“When did she leave?” I ask Anakin.

“Like, five minutes before you walked in.”   
“And she didn’t say where she was going?”   
“She just said a walk.”   
“Can you sense where she is?”   
He closes his eyes briefly and focuses.

“Oh. She’s really close. I think she’s almost here.”   
“What does your force bond feel like with her?” I ask out of pure curiousity. 

“It’s really strong. It’s what I felt the second we landed on Naboo. I think it just comes naturally with a sibling.”   
“Probably. Has it gotten much stronger since you first met?”   
“Yeah. I mean, it was getting stronger as time went on. And then when my mother died it got really strong. I think she finally started to trust me that day.”   
“She didn’t before?”   
“Well, no and yes. She did, but she was still apprehensive, at least deep down. I think it was hard for her to trust me when she’d be so alone for all those years. But that day she finally did, and since then our bond has gotten much stronger. Like when we were dueling it was insane. There wasn’t a single misstep in our battle because we could each sense what the other person was about to do. It was like a total stalemate.”   
“That’s so interesting. You two are probably some of the first force sensitive siblings in...well...ever, I guess.”

Before Anakin can answer, the door opens and Alaney walks in.

“Where have you been?” I ask.

“I went for a walk.”

“Do you know what  _ didn’t  _ go for a walk? I ask as I hold up her comlink.

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot.”   
“You need to have this with you all the time. I’m serious. This is almost as important as your lightsaber.” I toss it to her and she clips it right onto her belt.

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Where were you walking for so long?”   
“The underworld.”   
“ _ What _ ?!” Anakin and I yell in sync.

“What’s wrong with that?” she says defensively. 

“Um, everything?” Anakin starts. “You can’t just go wandering around the underworld of Coruscant! How would you know where a good or bad area is?”   
“I don’t know! I didn’t go anywhere bad.”   
“And how would you know that?” Anakin presses.

“What the hell does it matter?!”

“Seriously? This just proves my point: you don’t even know what’s out there. You don’t know that there are smugglers, gangs, and bounty hunters everywhere you turn. The underworld is a dangerous place! You can’t just wander out there alone. It’s not safe for you.”   
“I think I can handle myself, thanks.”

“Really? You’ve lived here how long? A few weeks?”

“Alright, Anakin, that’s enough.” I interrupt. “Your sister can take care of herself.” He looks mad that I’m taking her side so I continue. “Alaney, listen to me. You need to make sure you don’t go anywhere else without your comlink and in the future, tell me where you’re going before you go. And the underworld is a not a great place to be wandering around. Understood?”   
“Yes.” she says rather sharply.

“Master, are you really not agreeing with me here? She’s never been out on the streets before! You think it’s a good idea for her to go mingle with gangs and bounty hunters?” Anakin says with an escalating tone of anger.   
“Anakin, please relax. She was just going for a walk, not joining a death gang.”   
“I’m just trying to protect her.”   
“I know. But she’s fine, okay? She can handle herself. You know that.”   
He looks more upset than mad now and leaves the room without another word.

Alaney stays in the doorway for a second before sitting down on the couch next to me.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to start something.” she says earnestly.

“It’s alright. Anakin’s your older brother. I don’t think he’s ever going to stop being protective of you.”   
“Yeah. Probably not.”   
I shift in my seat for a second before attempting to start discussing what Mace Windu and I talked about. 

“So I heard you and Master Windu had a pretty heated duel today?”    
“Oh yeah. He’s crazy good, Obi-Wan. He beat me like four times in a row.”   
“But you won the last round, no?”   
“Yeah. But that was just one win versus the four that he won.”   
“Master Windu has been training for years. You should be proud of yourself that you were able to beat him even once.”   
“Yeah...I guess.” she says hesitantly. I can feel her holding back but when I search her thoughts I find shields blocking me out. 

“Obi-Wan?” she asks quietly.

“Yes?”   
“Can I speak honestly for a second?”   
“Of course. Always.”   
“I felt really weird when I won that duel.”   
“Weird how?”   
“Like, the first four rounds I felt normal. Normal meaning I felt totally in control and that I knew what I was doing. But that last time...I don’t know. Something in me switched on and I felt completely out of control within myself.”   
“Out of control like you couldn’t stop yourself?”   
“No...well...kind of. Out of control like I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself from anything. I don’t know how to explain it.”   
“What made you feel that way?”   
“I think it was what Master Windu said. He was like “channel your emotions into the fight” and I tried to and then I just lost control right there. Does that make any sense?”   
“I think I know what you’re trying to say. You channeled your emotions into it and it made you much more powerful. Is that what it felt like?”   
“Yeah. It was really weird.”   
“Well Alaney, you know we’ve talked about this before. You’re possibly the most force sensitive being in the galaxy. The more you learn and grow with the force, the more powerful you get. I think what happened was you unleashed a new surge of power inside of you when you started to channel your inner feelings. Emotions can be a powerful tool when it comes to lightsaber combat but they can be dangerous too.”   
“I thought you might say that. Does that mean I shouldn’t do that in the future?”   
“No. Not necessarily. I’m going to try to help you simultaneously channel your emotions and control them.”   
“How?”   
“A lot of training, a lot of meditation, and a lot of mindfulness.”   
“Alright…” she answers slowly.

“Is something else bothering you?”   
“Not really.”   
“Alaney…”

“I just felt so messed up afterwards. Like during it, I was terrified because I felt out of control. But then when it was done...I kind of wanted to feel it again. I probably sound crazy.”   
“You don’t. It’s all new to you and it’s natural to crave more power once you have it. We’ll work on it, okay?”   
“Okay.” she says nodding. She starts picking at her braid and I notice that it’s loose and needs to be redone.

“Want me to do it?” I ask.

“Yeah! Thanks.”

She turns around and I reach to undo her braid. It reminds me of doing Anakin’s braid when he was younger, before he got too independent and insisted on doing it himself. I finish braiding her hair but she doesn’t move, she just stares off at nothing, seemingly lost in thought.

Just then, my comlink blares. “Obi-Wan, come to the council immediately. It’s urgent.” I hear Master Windu say.

“Copy that. On my way.” I answer. “Come on.” I motion to Alaney. We walk as quickly as we can to the council and I wonder what could be an urgent matter right now. Anakin is waiting outside when we get there and he looks confused as well.

“Master, do you know why we were summoned?”   
“No, I don’t. Let’s go inside and find out.”   
The three of us enter and I see several members missing as well as Master Windu walking from person to person and speaking in a hushed tone.

“Obi-Wan, Anakin, thank you for coming so quickly.” he starts. “There has been a dire emergency. Chancellor Palpatine has been kidnapped by General Grievous.” 

“What?!?” Anakin yells. I’m pretty shocked myself. How could Grievous possibly have gotten through the Senate building and taken the Chancellor?

“He’s currently being held captive aboard Grievous’ ship. We need you to go on a mission to rescue him.”   
“Of  _ course _ .” Anakin says quickly. “Do we know where he is?” 

“Not far from here. Aboard the Invisible Hand. You need to depart immediately.”   
“Take your Padawan with you, you must.” Master Yoda says to me.

“Yes Master.”   
“Go now. May the force be with you.” he adds. We bow and quickly leave the room to head for the landing port. 

“I’m taking the Delta 7-B!” Anakin yells as he runs toward a ship.

“Alright, we’re taking the ARC-170.” I yell back. “Stay in contact! There’s going to be a lot of shields up on that ship!”

“Copy that!” he says before disappearing into the cockpit. Alaney hesitates as I jump in. 

“Come on!”

“Co-pilot or tail gunner?” she asks.

“Hmm. Tail gunner. We’ll need it.”

She nods and climbs into the ship behind me. There’s no time to waste now so I take off the second the hatch seals. 

“Do you know how to shoot the tail cannon?” I yell to Alaney.

“I’ll figure it out!” she shouts back.

We’re soon blasting into space at top speed and trying to catch up to Anakin. The battle that ensues between us and Grievous’ defense is utter adrenaline and terror. Between Anakin flying into us to knock off buzz droids and my engine getting knocked out, it’s a miracle we make it to the ship at all. We both do a bit of a crash landing onto the platform and the three of us jump out of the ships before they really crash.

There’s plenty of battle droids to meet us on the platform and we get to work taking them down. When the platform looks clear, we start to descend into the depths of the ship to find the Chancellor. 

It’s not long into our walk that we encounter another troop of battle droids, who we take down easily.

“Anakin, can you sense where the Chancellor is?” I ask.

“Yes. I’m trying. There’s a lot going on.” he answers. I see him looking around, focused, and trying to figure out where to go.

“He’s this way.” I hear Alaney suddenly say. I turn around and see her pointing to the left.

“Can you sense him?” I ask in surprise.  

“Yeah. He’s that way.” she answers. I’m so used to relying on Anakin’s senses that I completely forgot how fine-tuned Alaney’s are. 

I look at Anakin who shrugs back at me and we follow her down a different hallway. We take several more turns before coming to a door where Alaney stops. She waves her hand to open it and walks in without hesitation. The room is a vast and barren amount of empty space aside from a small control panel and a single chair. Sure enough, cuffed to the armchair, is the Chancellor.

“Well done, Alaney.” I say.

Anakin is already jogging past us towards him and says nothing.

“Chancellor Palpatine!” he calls out. “Are you alright?”

“Oh! Anakin! How brave of you to come rescue me. I’m fine, really.”

“Here, let me get those.” Anakin says as he removes the cuffs. The Chancellor stands up and sees Alaney and I walking toward him. 

“Master Kenobi, my sincerest gratitude. As well to you, young Skywalker.”    
“Of course.” I respond. “Now, let’s find a way off this ship, shall we?”

“I wouldn’t mind killing Grievous while we’re here.” Anakin adds. “But I can’t sense him. At all. Alaney, can you?”   
“No.” she says after a few seconds. “Sorry.”   
“It’s alright. Our top priority is getting Chancellor Palpatine out of here safely. We’ll worry about Grievous later.”

The four of us walk to the elevator shaft and try to figure out how to get to whatever the main floor of this ship is. After a few unsuccessful searches, Anakin stops the elevator.

“We should split up. The Chancellor and I will get off here, you and Laney get off on another floor.” he says to me.

“Worth a shot.” I answer. The two of them get off the elevator and I hit another button to take us somewhere else. The floor Alaney and I get off on is extremely dimly lit and smells damp. 

“Uh, Obi-Wan?” she asks.

“Yes?”   
“I think this is some sort of maintenance floor.”

“I think you’re right. Let’s try the next one.”   
“Wait. If this is a maintenance floor, then there’s probably a control panel around here, right?”   
“Probably.”   
“So if we can find it, we can maybe shut down all the droids.”   
“Brilliant! Great plan, Alaney! Let’s look around. There seems to be two main hallways that lead to different things.”   
“Okay, let’s split up. I’ll go this way.” I feel a twinge of fear at splitting up from her, but I remind myself that she’s smart and skilled. She can take care of herself.

“Okay. Be careful. Call me on your comlink if something happens.” I say. 

She nods and I push away my anxiety as I walk in the opposite direction from her.

I walk for a few minutes and find nothing except for rusty pipes and poorly lit rooms that are empty. I decide to call Anakin and see if he’s found anything.

“Anakin, come in. Where are you?” I say through the comlink. I hear static before he answers.

“We’ve, uh, run into a bit of trouble. Just several dozen droids. Floor 8, sector 45. Some help would be nice, if you’re not too busy.” 

“On my way.” I answer as I roll my eyes at his sass. I call into the comlink again as I run down the hall.

“Alaney, come in.”   
“Yeah. Here.” she answers instantly.

“Come to the elevator. Anakin needs help with some droids.”   
“Yeah, I think I’ve almost got those taken care of. You go up. I’ll figure this out down here.”   
I hesitate again. She’s fine, I tell myself. She has to learn somehow.

“Copy that.” I answer, and I run into the elevator, leaving her behind. 


	20. Chapter 20

***Alaney’s POV***

I’ve never seen a control panel like this before, but I guess it makes sense considering how massive this ship is. There’s a number of things that I know I shouldn’t shut off, but the rest is pretty hard to decipher. I try to think back to all the things my dad taught me about coding and rewiring. There’s a lot of symbols that I’ve never seen but some of them look similar to ones I have. Finally, I decode enough of one of the panels to hope that it’s the battle droids. Hopefully.

I push down the major switch for the control panel and hear some of the buzzing in the room stop. I wait for a second, unsure of what to do, until I hear my comlink buzz.

“Did you do that?” I hear Anakin ask.

“I don’t know, did the droids stop?”   
“Yeah! Thanks, Laney!”

I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I hear the comlink switch and Obi-Wan comes on.

“Alaney, come to floor 8, sector 49. Wait, no, just come to floor 8. We’ll meet you at the elevator. Let’s find a way out of here before they fix these droids.”   
“Got it.” I answer. I rush back towards the elevator and plug in the coordinates for the eighth floor. When it stops, the door stays closed. I wait a second before hitting a button to try to open it. Still closed. I’m not one for small spaces so I give up with the buttons and ignite my saber to start cutting a hole out. Just as I finish cutting a hole big enough to climb through, the elevator buzzes to life. Where is it going now?   
I don’t particularly feel like finding out. The second I feel it drop I torpedo out of the hole and crash onto the floor. I land on my head and shoulder and I close my eyes as I hit it. When I open them, I see Obi-Wan standing over me.

“You okay?” he asks cautiously.

“Yep. All good.” I answer. He reaches out a hand and helps me up and I see the Chancellor and Anakin standing a few feet away.

“Nice job on the droids.” Anakin says. I nod back to him and try to get my bearings. 

“Alright.” Anakin continues. “Let’s get out of here. This is the right floor, Laney. It should be the way end of this hallway.”

We make our way down a long hallway full of powerless droids until a big door comes into view. 

“Chancellor, stay behind us.” Anakin says before opening the door.

Inside, I see a few battle droids that are shut down at their positions. There’s different piloting posts as well as gunner spots.  At the main screen, there are maybe half a dozen droids that are very much activated, but they’re not battle droids. Behind them is the strangest looking machine I’ve ever seen. It’s not human, that’s for sure, but it’s got to be some part animal. It has more than four legs (arms?) and a ton of robotic armor around it. All I see that indicates it’s a creature are yellow eyes staring back at us.

This must be General Grievous. 

“Droids!” this creature hisses. “Kill them now!”

I’m so focused on this strange thing that I don’t notice the activated droids shooting at us. I snap back to attention and start defending against them. They’re definitely better at shooting than battle droids but it’s still easy enough to destroy them. More of them appear in the doorway and I turn around to handle it. 

“Grievous!” I hear Anakin yell. I look up from the droids to see the creature sneaking through the crowd and out the door. Okay. That is Grievous. And he’s about to escape.

I jump over the droids coming at me and run after Grievous through the doorway. There’s a dozen more battle droids in my path and I swerve to avoid the shots.

“Leave him!” I hear Anakin yell. “You can’t take him alone!” I ignore him and press on. I drop a large beam on the group of droids that manages to take out about eight of them. I slam one into the remaining crowd and take out another two. With one left, I easily fire his shots back at him and slash him down quickly.

“Get back here!” I yell after Grievous. He’s fast on his weird little spider arms. I’m sprinting now to keep up with him. I run with every ounce of strength in my body but the distance between us grows and after a few more seconds he’s out of my sight. I bend over to catch my breath before I realize I left Anakin and Obi-Wan to fend off all those other droids. I jog back while still trying to catch my breath. I see the entrance to the doorway empty and I don’t hear any blasters being fired. Walking back in, I see the two of the standing near a pile of steaming droids and the Chancellor sitting down in one of the commander seats. They’re both breathing heavily too.

“What were you thinking? You can’t go after Grievous alone. He’s better trained than you would think.” Anakin says to me with a harsh tone.

“He’s really fast.” I respond, not knowing what to say. 

“Alaney, sit down.” Obi-Wan says in an agitated tone.

What did I do wrong? Where we not trying to kill Grievous? I swallow my angry response and sit down at one of the control panels.

“How many escape pods are left?” Obi-Wan asks Anakin.

“All but one. I guess Grievous took off.” he responds.

“Alright. Let’s get out of here. But the ship…”

“I can send it on a path into hyperspace. Then it’ll be someone else’s problem.”   
“Anakin, please. Let’s be responsible here. It’s too close to Coruscant to make it self destruct.”   
“Then we’ll set it to self destruct and blast it into hyperspace. Problem solved.”   
“Yes, I suppose so. Let’s move.” Obi-Wan motions for me to follow him and I do. The escape pods aren’t far from the room we were in and I realize that the end of the pods connects to where Grievous ran out of my sight. Damnit. I let him escape.

“Alaney, you see where these in relation to where we just were?” Obi-Wan asks. I nod. “Good. Now run back and help your brother. The two of you jump in a pod the second you’re done setting the ship. Understood?” I nod again. To my surprise, Obi-Wan and the Chancellor get into a pod and he starts setting it to release.

“What’re you doing?” I ask.

“I’m getting him to safety. Go.” he answers.

I run back to where Anakin is and find him hammering the keys to type in whatever path he’s setting.

“What’re you still doing here?!” he yells.

“Obi-Wan told me to come back and help you!” I yell back. The roar of the ship's engines are getting louder and I can hardly hear myself speak.

“Set the pod for release. Wait there for me, if I’m not there in the next 100 seconds, get out of here.” he yells in an alarmingly calm tone.

“What?!? I’m not leaving you here!”

“Do as I say! Go to the pod, now!”   
I don’t know what to do other than go so I run back and jump into the escape pod. I set everything to be released and watch anxiously as the seconds tick by. I feel my heart beating faster as more time passes because I know that if Anakin’s not here in time, we’re both getting blasted into hyperspace. No way I leave without him.

At exactly 94 seconds, he leaps into the pod at full speed screaming, “Go! Go! Go!” I slam my hand down on the release button and feel a huge drop as we’re shot toward Coruscant away from the  _ Invisible Hand _ . I turn back to see the ship imploding as it disappears into space. Anakin collapses onto the bench and breathes a huge sigh of relief. 

“That was close.” I say meekly. I don’t know if he’s pissed at me or what, until he looks up and smiles genuinely. 

“Fun, right?”   
“Oh yeah. Definitely.” I answer. 

“Not all missions are this exciting. You got in on a good one, Laney.”   
“Glad I could be a part of this, uh, adventure.” Anakin nods in satisfaction and reprograms the exact coordinates of what he wants into the pod. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the surface of Coruscant and we end up landing pretty close to the outside of the Senate building.

“What now?” I ask.

“What now? Now, we get lots of credit for bringing the Chancellor back safely, and we get to act all important, and the Jedi Council isn’t pissed at me for a few minutes.”   
“Sounds good.” I answer. When we’ve safely landed, we climb out of the pod and see a cruiser waiting for us. It takes us up to the entrance of the Senate building where Obi-Wan, the Chancellor, and a few other people are waiting. I recognize Padme among them. Obi-Wan smiles warmly at us so I guess he’s not pissed either.

The Chancellor steps forward and starts talking to us.

“Welcome back, Skywalkers. Thank you again for your bravery and dedication. It is thanks to you three that I am still alive.”   
“Of course.” Anakin answers. A man I’ve never seen before steps forward and extends his hand.

“Alaney Skywalker, my name is Bail Organa. It’s an honor to finally meet you. I’ve just heard from Obi-Wan how crucial you were to the success of the mission.”

I smile in gratitude and shake his hand. “Thank you, sir.” I say.

Padme steps forward and speaks to both me and Anakin.

“Thank you for your service, jedi. It is greatly appreciated here in the Senate. Please, join us for a celebration.” 

Obi-Wan interjects before either of us can say anything. “I’m sure Anakin would be more than happy to join you. As for us, we have to go report to the jedi council. Thank you.” Obi-Wan bows and motions for me to follow him so I bow before turning around to leave. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Anakin very subtly reach out and squeeze Padme’s hand without anyone noticing. I roll my eyes and follow Obi-Wan to a shuttle bus sort of thing that’s waiting at the edge of the platform. We sit down inside of it and Obi-Wan tells the driver that we’re going to the temple.

“Well, that was quite a mission, huh?” Obi-Wan says to me. 

“Yeah, sure was.” I answer.

“You all alright? Did you get hurt at all?” he asks as he scans me with his eyes.

“No, I’m good. You?”

“No. But I did break my comlink.”   
“How?”   
“One of the droids was carrying an electrostaff and it hit my comlink. It completely short-circuited.”   
I laugh a little in the irony of him being the one without a comlink for once.

“What’s funny?” he asks.

“Who’s the one without a comlink on them now?” I giggle.

“Very funny.” he says sarcastically. “Anyway, when we get back, we have to give a full report to the council. That means a description of everything we did, start to finish, as well as the outcomes of whatever the purpose of the mission was. Do you want to give the report?”   
Me? Talking to the council?   
“Uh...I don’t know. I don’t really feel capable of doing that.” I answer.

“Of course you’re capable. You were there. You know everything that happened.”   
“I don’t want to.”   
“Why?”   
I hesitate and start fidgeting with my hands instead of answering.

“Alaney, why not?” he asks again.

“I just...I don’t feel like I can.” I say without looking up.

“Look at me.” he presses. “I’m not going to make you do it if you don’t want to. But I want you to tell me why.”   
“I get really nervous when I talk to them. I feel like I don’t say the right things.”   
“There’s no need to be nervous around them. Why wouldn’t you say the right things?”   
“I dunno. I haven’t been here for a long time. I feel like there’s a lot that I don’t know that they do.”   
“That’s how it’s supposed to be, Alaney. There’s a lot that they know that  _ I _ don’t know. We’re all still learning, okay? None of us ever stop learning.”   
“Yeah, I know.”   
“When we go in, listen to me give the report, and then next time maybe you’ll want to do it, alright?”   
“Okay.”

Something about his gentleness reminds me of my dad and for a second I feel grief inside of me. It’s not the first time that Obi-Wan has reminded me of him, but it’s more powerful this time. I feel a strong desire for comfort, and I wish Obi-Wan would just wrap his arm around me and hold me. It sounds silly, but I miss that kind of affection. The years of solitude I spent after my dad died made me so numb to missing him, but ever since I met these two, it’s like it’s gnawing at me. Was I stronger when I was alone? Emotionally, probably yes. But his death might have messed me up more than I realize. I grab the bracelet on my wrist with my opposite hand and rub my finger over the stone. I feel my initials in the curve of it, carved almost ten years ago by my dad. 

I wonder why Anakin never asks me about him.

I guess I don’t ever ask him about our mom. But now, of course, I want to. I make a mental note to ask him later, whenever he gets back from that Senate party. 

“We’re here.” I hear Obi-Wan say in a distant voice. I snap out of my trance and climb out of the shuttle behind him. The meeting at the council is pretty long and boring and I start to space out a few minutes in. I know I’m supposed to be listening to Obi-Wan’s report, but I’m not really paying attention until I hear Mace Windu say my name.

“Alaney, how did you know how to shut off those battle droids?” he asks.

“Oh, I didn’t really. I just decoded the panel the best I could and then eliminated all the ones that I knew weren’t it until I found it.”   
“That’s excellent. Decoding technology is a good skill to have when dealing with enemy ships. I personally think that could be a great thing for you to teach younglings in the future.”   
As usual, I have no idea how to answer him, so I just nod.

Obi-Wan goes back to talking about the mission for another few boring minutes until he finishes telling them everything and I’m dismissed.

Obi-Wan stays in there a little while and I wait outside, unsure of whether or not I should be waiting. He appears shortly after.

“I’m going to go get a new comlink. I’ve just arranged with Master Windu to help train you against Grievous’ fighting, so go wait in the arena for him, okay?” Obi-Wan tells me.

“Yes sir.” I answer.

“Okay. See you later.”

“See you.”   
I watch him walk away before leaving to go to training.

I’m surprised that I remember the way there and I’m able to find it in a few short minutes. Inside, there’s almost no one around aside from two kids who look to be about ten practicing dueling with each other.

I take a seat at one of the benches and wait for Mace Windu to appear. He strides in right after I sit down and motions for me to follow him. We go to the back corner of the huge room to a dimly lit stage that I assume is used for dueling. 

“Did you enjoy the mission you went on today, Alaney?” he asks.

“Yes sir.”

“Now, I have a question for you. When you ran after General Grievous, what was your plan should you have been able to fight him?”   
“I didn’t really have one. I was just trying to stop him somehow.”   
“General Grievous may not be a jedi, Alaney, but he thoroughly trained in the jedi arts. He was trained by Dooku, who you’ve fought. And based on what we’ve seen, it appears he’s been trained in all seven traditional styles.”   
“Does he fight with one of his, uh, arms?”   
“He fights with all four of his limbs. It’s what makes him so powerful. Imagine someone coming at you with one lightsaber, an extreme force. Now multiply that by four.”   
“I see. How does anybody defend against that?”

“It’s not easy. That’s what we’re going to work on. We’re going to start with two. I’ll hold on in either hand and attack you. Right now, I just want you to defend the best you can.”   
“Yes sir.”   
We hop up onto the platform and Windu summons another saber into his empty hand. He ignites both of them and immediately starts coming at me. I can focus on where one of them is going to go, but the other one’s path is invisible to me. I block one with my own saber and then try to use my other hand to push the second blade away from me. It seems to work and I’m able to put it out of my mind and let the force control what I’m doing. After a few more hits he stops suddenly. 

“Good. Now let’s try four.” He puts his own saber away in his belt and summons two larger ones into his hands. When he ignites them, I realize they’re double bladed. Oh boy. 

“Remember: defend.” he says as he comes at me full force.

There’s four blades whirring every which way and I can’t even distinguish which are which. It looks like fireworks in front of me and I randomly stick out my saber to try and defend. I have to duck and jump over the other blades and I feel blind to the force with this many blades coming at me. Windu slides a blade above and under me suddenly, forcing me to kneel. I drop my weapon in surrender.

“Four isn’t as easy, is it?” he asks.

“No.” I answer as I try to catch my breath.

“It takes practice. Let’s go again.” I force myself to stand back up and prepare for the next hit.

We do this practice for what feels like another 400 rounds until I feel my legs getting shaky from fatigue. 

How long have we been doing this? 

“Are you tired?” he asks as I fall to my knees again.

“Yes sir.” I answer.

“Alright. I know it’s hard, but you did well. There’s no special move or trick that will help you master this. Just lots and lots of practice. That’s all for today. You may go.”   
“Okay. Thank you Master Windu.”   
“You’ve done very well today, Alaney. Both on the mission and in this training session. Go get some rest.”   
“Yes sir.” I say with a bow. My arms are so tired they stay limply at my side as I drag my feet back home. I walk inside the living quarters and practically collapse onto the couch. I hear Obi-Wan’s door open and I see him walk out of his room.

“Hey Obi-Wan.” I say without turning to look at him.

“Hello! How did your training go?”   
“It was okay. It was really hard, I guess.”   
“Yeah, Grievous is tougher than he seems. It’s good for you to prepared for it, though. Because one day, we  _ are _ going to get him.”   
“Did you fix your comlink?”   
“Yes, thank you very much, I did. I just talked to your brother, who’s been celebrating at the Senate for hours now. He’ll be back shortly.”   
“He must be having a good time.”   
“Oh I’m sure. He loves to mingle with those politicians.” This makes me laugh for no reason.    
“It’s been a long day.” he continues when I finish laughing. “Why don’t you go to bed?”

“Yeah, okay. Goodnight, Obi-Wan.”   
“Goodnight. Good job today.”   
I smile at him before walking into my room. I  _ am _ tired, but I still want to talk to Anakin. I’ve got questions about our parents that are eating away at me. I take my robes off and lie in bed staring at the ceiling. I’m assuming Obi-Wan’s asleep pretty quickly since I don’t hear any noise outside. I’m waiting for a good half hour, fighting off sleep, until I hear the door from the hallway open. I sense that it’s Anakin and wait to hear where he goes. He heads right for his room and I debate how long I should wait. I don’t want him to fall asleep, so I sit in bed for another five minutes before getting up. The living room is dark aside from the city lights shining in, and I quietly pad over to Anakin’s door.

I knock quietly on the door and hear him say, “Come in!” so I open the door and enter.

“Hey Laney! What’re you doing up?” he asks with a little bit of a slur in his speech.

“How was the party?”   
“The party was great! Oh yeah, lotta fun. Wish you could’ve joined. It got wild.” Ah, that explains the slurred speech.

“Are you drunk?” I ask laughing. 

“A little. Maybe.” he answers slyly.”Why? What’s up?”   
“I wanted to talk to you. But we can talk tomorrow.”   
“No! I’m totally fine. Let’s talk.”   
“Are you sure? It can really wait until you’re sober.” I say, laughing again.

“I’m fine. Come sit.”    
I sit next to him on his bed and look around at how messy his room is again.

“Whatcha want to talk about?” he asks.

“Can I ask you something?”   
“Always.”   
“What was Mom like? As a person?”   
He loses the playful look on his face and clears his throat.

“Our mother was an amazing person.” He doesn’t sound drunk now, he sounds serious. “As you know, I lived with her until I was nine. She was so gentle and kind to me, and well, to everyone. She was supportive yet protective. She was a great mom. She gave me the courage to come here and become a jedi. I didn’t think I could leave her but I did. I would’ve been a slave for the rest of my life if she hadn’t encouraged me.”   
“Did she want you to become a jedi?”   
“Well--yes and no. I’ll never really know for sure. She wanted me to have a better life than what I had. And I think she knew I was meant to become a jedi.”   
“Wow.” I answer. I’m trying to process everything he just said. She must’ve been a great mom to send her son off to another planet and never see him again. “She sacrificed everything for you.”   
“Yeah. I’m forever grateful for her. I’m so lucky I was never separated from her early on.”   
I nod solemnly and picture young Ani with our mom. 

“From the one family photo I have, you look a lot like her.”   
“I remember you showing me that back on Naboo. Do you still have it?”   
“Of course. It’s in my room. I’ll go get it.”   
I run quietly into my room and grab it off the desk. I hand it to Anakin as I walk back in and sit down on the bed again.

“You were a cute little baby.” he laughs. “But you’re right, I look more like her than I do our dad.”   
“Yeah.”

“What made you want to talk about all this Laney?”   
I sigh before answering. “Do you still miss mom?”   
“Of course I do. I miss her all the time.”   
“I’m really not trying to sound like a jerk when I ask this, okay? But why don’t you ever ask me what dad was like?”   
He looks at me long and hard before saying anything.

“I don’t know. I feel like it’s just easier if I don’t. I don’t want to stir things up for you.”   
“Do you want to know about him?”   
“Totally. But only if you want to tell me.”   
“Okay. He was a really smart guy, like, smarter than anyone I’ve ever met. He knew something about everything. He taught me so much. And he wasn’t really affectionate in like a normal way, but he still was. Like, for example, he carved me this bracelet once when I was upset. He found my favorite kind of stone under a waterfall and carved my initials into it. And that was his way of saying he loved me. And he told the best stories. He loved to talk about anything and he had a story for every occasion. He was such a cool guy.” My voice cracks at the end of the sentence and I hold back tears that I know are coming. I look up and I see tears openly flowing from Ani’s eyes.

“I wish I could’ve met him, that’s for sure. I wish we could’ve been the perfect family that we should’ve been.”   
“Me too.” We’re both crying a little now. “But I’m happy with this one that we’ve got, too.”   
“Yeah. We do alright, don’t we?”   
“Ani, you know, if you ever want to hear stuff or ask me stuff about him you can. I like talking about him. Even though it makes me miss him.”   
“Okay. Same goes for mom.”

“I’m glad we talked about this.”   
“Me too. I’m glad you didn’t deem me too drunk to talk.” he says with a smile. “Are you tired?”   
“Yeah. Are you?”   
“Yeah.”    
I hesitate before getting up and think about earlier, when I was craving affection so badly.

“Hey Ani?” I ask hesitantly.

“What?”   
“Can I sleep here?”   
“Of course you can. Come here.”   
He moves over and lies down on one side of his bed. I lie down next to him and he puts his arm around me to hug me. It feels so safe, being next to him like this.

“Goodnight, Laney.” he says softly.

“Goodnight.”


	21. Chapter 21

***Obi-Wan’s POV***   
I wake up to the sound of my comlink buzzing. When I look at my watch, I see that it’s half past 7. Seriously? I haven’t slept this late in months. The buzz on my comlink is from Master Windu, informing me that I have a mission to go on. I call him to discuss and he tells me that I’m to go Alderaan and visit the Trade Federation. Apparently our previous negotiations have failed with them and they’re getting restless with the current political state.

Any missions involving politics are my least favorite to go on. I hate arguing over political states and policy, but so be it. With a sigh, I clip my comlink back into my belt and leave my room to go get Alaney. I knock on her door but there’s no answer. Could she be sleeping this late too? I never see her sleeping, really. She seems to hate sleep as much as Anakin hates meditation. I open her door but she’s not inside. Her bed is made and all of her stuff is on her desk. 

Well, that’s odd. Perhaps she went out somewhere. I walk out and knock on Anakin’s door but unsurprisingly hear no response. I open his door and to my surprise see him and Alaney asleep in his bed. I’m a little taken aback because I’ve never seen them sleep like this but it’s a heartwarming sight nonetheless. Their faces look nearly identical when they’re asleep and Anakin’s looks much more peaceful than when he’s awake. I finally stop my affectionate gaze and remember the task at hand.

“Alaney. Alaney, wake up.” I say gently. She’s an incredibly light sleeper and she opens her eyes and sits up within seconds.

“What’s up?” she asks groggily. 

“You have to get up. We have a mission to go on.” I answer.

“K.” she replies as she stands up. “Right now?”

“Sooner the better.”

She nods and walks past me before disappearing into her room. Anakin rolls over in his sleep and covers his head with the blanket. I laugh and leave his room, closing the door with a wave of my hand.  

Alaney reappears a few minutes later and looks at me expectantly.

“Yes?” I ask.

“Are you ready?” she responds. I glance at the side table by the couch and see her comlink. I wait silently to see if she’ll notice that she doesn’t have it. She looks at me with a confused expression as I stand silently. “What?” she asks.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” I ask.

“Yup.” she answers without missing a beat.  

“Okay. Let’s go.” I respond. She starts to leave and gets into the hallway before she notices I haven’t moved.

“What are you doing?” she asks in a slightly irritated tone. 

Alright. I gave her a chance. 

“Alaney, get back in here.” I say sternly. 

“What’s going on? Are we leaving or no?”   
Without a word, I walk over the table and pick up her forgotten comlink. I hold it up and wait for her to answer.

“Oh. Right.” she finally says. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to bring this thing with you?!? How many times has it been?! Over and over again I tell both you and your brother and neither of you remember. What is so hard to remember about this? Do you not realize how important it is?”   
“I-”   
“No. I don’t want an excuse now.” I storm over to her. “Give me your lightsaber.” 

“ _ What _ ?” she yells indignantly. 

“Give me your lightsaber.” I respond.

“Why?!?”   
“Alaney, give it to me right now!” I yell. She looks surprised to hear me actually raise my voice and she reluctantly reaches toward her belt and unclips it before handing it to me. 

“Listen. If you can so easily go without your  _ very _ important comlink all the time, you can go without this for a while.”   
Her face changes from defeat back to anger. “What?!? What am I supposed to do without my lightsaber?!?”

“I don’t know. What would you do without your comlink if you needed it?”    
“My comlink isn’t going to defend me against someone who’s trying to kill me!”   
“You can have this back when we get home from this mission. If something should happen on the mission, I’ll protect you. Now go get a ship ready.” 

She hesitates a second as if she’s about to speak but ultimately says nothing. She gives an annoyed sigh and starts to storm off. 

“Hey! Without the attitude!” I yell. She says nothing and the door closes behind her as she goes into the hallway.

What else could I do? This is the only way I can think to make her learn. Her lightsaber is the most important thing in the world to her, so without it maybe she’ll finally realize she needs to remember that damn comlink. I go into my room and unlock a drawer, placing the lightsaber inside it before locking it closed. Amazingly, Anakin has slept through this entire argument. 

I leave the quarters and head down to the port. There’s not much activity this time of the morning and I see a nearby starfighter revving up that I assume she’s in. 

I see her switching things on in the cockpit and she turns around before I walk all the way in. I’m hoping that she’s not going to sulk this entire trip. She’s just as stubborn as her brother, that’s for sure. But before I can even sit down, she stops me.

“I’m sorry.” she says, looking at the ground. “I’m sorry I disrespected you like that. And raised my voice and everything. I just lost my cool. It won’t happen again.” She pauses. “And I’m not apologizing just to get my lightsaber back. I really am sorry.”   
I feel internal relief as I hear her mature and sincere apology. 

“It’s alright. But do you understand what I’m saying now?”

“Yeah. I was being careless before.”   
“Okay. Let’s focus on what’s important right now. Alderaan.”   
“Yep. Coordinates are in. Ready when you are. What’s so urgently happening on Alderaan?”   
“We’re going to sort out a trade issue.”   
“That seems to happen all the time. Don’t jedi have more important things to do?”   
“Now now, there’s no need to belittle a mission just because it “happens all the time.” We help wherever we’re needed. Right now, in the current state of the Republic, that’s with trade negotiations.” I say with a sigh. 

“So what do we do?”   
“We act as the mediators between the two parties.”   
“Okay.” she responds with a shrug before picking up some gadget and playing with it. 

I get to thinking as we fly to Alderaan about how messed up the galaxy must seem to her. Before she was with us, she lived on Naboo. A peaceful place for a lonely life. She didn’t know of conflict and politics and stupid crap like trade disagreements. She’s right, the jedi  _ should _ have more important things to do. Before the Separatists started the jedi were different. We didn’t get so wrapped up in politics. That’s the life I wish I could show her.

But not yet. Not until the Clone Wars are over. 

Upon our arrival to Alderaan, I see Bail Organa waiting near the landing pod. I’m always happy to see a friend like him, even in the slightly annoying circumstance. We chat briefly about the issue at hand and he tells me that the tension is rising between the Separatists and various neutral planets. 

“It won’t be long before the Separatists start to use force to make others join their side. There’s too much greed from them. And they know that their side is losing.”   
“I know. If we could just get this war sorted out we could finally get things back to the way they were. Without all of these threats looming across the galaxy.”   
“Hopefully. Good luck to you today, my friend.” He glances behind me and sees Alaney standing quietly. “Padawan Alaney! Best of luck with your continued studies. You have a great teacher.”   
“Thank you, sir.” she answers. I smile at him and we walk past.

“I’ll catch up with you later!” he says to my back, and I give a small wave back to acknowledge him. 

The building we go into resembles any generic building from Coruscant but as soon as we walk in I can sense the tense energy built up in the room. I swiftly turn around before getting anyone’s attention and grab Alaney’s shoulder.

“When we get in there, don’t speak unless you’re spoken to, okay? I don’t have a handle on what we’re dealing with yet.”   
She nods and I face the whole of the room. There’s a few creatures sitting around a table reading and a man behind a large desk who I assume is the guard of some sort. 

“Hello. Obi-Wan Kenobi here to see Jevan Verbeke.” 

“Ah, yes. The jedi. Please sir, follow me.” 

The man leads us down a dark hallway into a deceivingly large room with a circular table. There’s about twelve or fourteen chairs around it and about five of them are filled with a mix of humans and aliens. On either side of the door are two heavily armed guards. This should be interesting.

 

***Alaney’s POV***

I get tense the second we walk into this room. There are some bad feelings between almost everyone and I don’t like it. Some fly looking alien seats Obi-Wan at one side and then tells me to sit a few seats down. I look at Obi-Wan who gives a slight nod and sit down next to another strange looking alien. They start to discuss some monumentally boring trade issue which I know I’m supposed to be paying attention to but I just can’t. I zone out for a while before I hear something I haven’t heard in years: the ancient dialect of the Chagrian people. It’s a language my dad taught me when we used to travel to the heart of Naboo and trade with travellers. It’s not a common language at all, and the few humanoids who do speak it have mostly died out. Yet every alien at this table seems to be speaking it to each other. 

I refocus my attention and try to translate what they’re saying. 

“Will happen soon.” I catch, along with, “Be patient! Don’t rush!”

My uneasy feeling from before spikes and I intently to listen to see if they say anything further. However, they stop speaking Chagranian and go back to talking to Obi-Wan. I look at him and  I can see from his expression that he’s not feeling the same anxiety as me. I can sense something is about to go very wrong and I don’t know what it’s going to be. One of the aliens starts telling a pointless story about his life and I can tell that it’s meant to be a distraction. 

In less than a second later I see the creature next to Obi-Wan whip out some sort of electric taser from under his cloak.

“Obi-Wan!” I yell. He senses it too and goes to reach for his weapon.

But it’s too late.

The creature jabs him in the chest with this taser and I hear a horrible voltage go through the weapon. In seconds, Obi-Wan is unconcious. I’m so shocked that I forget the danger I’m about to face and quickly jump out of my seat. When I look around the table, I see each of the aliens staring at me with a creepy and evil grin. 

“Ah, little student of the great  _ jedi _ . What are you going to do now? Men, I think she’ll make a fine edition to our...collection.” I shiver at the thought of whatever these creeps have in their collection and slowly start to back away. 

In the best Chagranian I can remember, I ask, “What do you want?”   
They all look surprised to hear me speak it and they glance at the one I’m assuming is in charge. 

He sort of hisses back at them and looks mad. “Guards! Get her!” he yells. 

I see these two loaded guards rushing toward me and instinctively reach for my lightsaber. A feeling of horror rushes over me as I remember that Obi-Wan took it. Why now?! Could the timing be any worse?! 

I concentrate on whatever else I can use and ultimately decide to force lift a chair from the table. I summon up as much power as I can and slam it into one of the guards. It works! The chair knocks him over and his head slams against the wall. Part of it ricochets off the wall and hits me directly in the face. I yell as I feel it cut my skin and feel blood ooze out. But still a success. One down one to go. Plus the five or so aliens still sitting at the table. This guard pulls out the same taser the alien used on Obi-Wan and I duck as he jabs it at me. I jump over him and grab a weapon off his back before he can even turn around. I shoot him without a thought and turn to face the table. The aliens are staring at me with a look of disbelief. 

“Go, go, go!” one of them shouts to the others. They start to run out of the room and I wonder if it’s worth it to kill them or not. I hesitate and ultimately decide not to stir up anything else. Just to get the hell out of this place. I grab another gun from the dead guard and stick it in my belt. I walk over to where Obi-Wan is, and thankfully see that he’s still alive. 

“Obi-Wan…Obi-Wan...wake up.” I say as I shake him. “Wake up. We need to get out of here.” I shake him a little harder and speak a little louder but he shows no sign of moving. Shit. What the hell am I supposed to do now? These aliens are no doubt sending reinforcements right now and Obi-Wan is out cold. I hear an alarm go off somewhere in the building and decide I don’t have the luxury of choosing what to do. I gotta act fast. Without another thought, I do my best to pick up Obi-Wan and put him over my shoulder. He’s not a heavy guy, but he’s taller than me and he outweighs me by at least fifty pounds. I focus and do my best to connect with the force and find inner strength to stand up. I look both ways at the door and see no one in sight. I start jogging out of the building when I notice that creepy guy is still sitting at the desk. Not knowing his intentions, I run right past him and out the door. The distance from the building to ship can’t be more than half a mile, but I’m tiring fast carrying him on my shoulder. I’m panting and out of breath by the time I finally reach it and it’s all I can do to not just drop him on the floor. Stopping for a minute to catch my breath I hear a the faint wail of a siren echoing around outside. That can’t be good. I glance out the window and see red flashing lights all over the landing pads. Whatever it means, I gotta get out of here stat. I gently lay Obi-Wan onto the cot in the small medbay and prepare to take off. I send a hologram call to the Jedi council and in a few seconds Master Windu appears before me.

“Master Windu, we seem to have run into a bit of trouble here on Alderaan. The Separatists had allies here who were plotting to kill both myself and Master Kenobi. We’re preparing to evacuate now.”   
“Allies? Who were they affiliated with?” he asks.

“I’m not sure. But Master Kenobi is injured. They tried to kill him with a very powerful taser.” Windu sighs and looks angry. 

“Alright. Come back here as fast as you can so we can sort this out.”   
“Yes Master.” I say with a bow before ending the hologram.

I glance back at Obi-Wan and see that he’s still motionless. 

“Alright. We’re gettin out of here, Obi-Wan.” I say to mostly myself. I put the ship into hyperspace as fast as I can and try to calm down from what just happened. I’ve forgotten about the cut on my head until now when I see blood drip down onto the control panel. I ignore it and stare straight ahead at the void of space. Looking at space used to be more exciting. The first time I saw it was one of the best days of my life. There were endless possibilities back then. Now, just harsh reality. I continue to ignore the blood coming out of my head and I get up every few minutes to make sure Obi-Wan is still alive. When we’re close to Coruscant I send a message to the temple asking for a med transport to be ready. It’s all a blur when we land, there are suddenly three healers and a gurney and half the council waiting outside the ship. I guess it’s a big deal when a jedi master gets hurt. I’m about to follow the healers with Obi-Wan but Windu stops me.    
“We need your report, Alaney.” I sigh internally and try not to roll my eyes. 

“Yes, Master.” I say, reluctantly following him to the council chamber. Many of the members are out on missions similar to ours and the majority of the people in the room are holograms. I start trying to explain what happened but someone interrupts me every other sentence. 

“They spoke Chagranian? But how?!” Ki-Adi-Mundi asks. 

“I don’t know. But they all understood it. Maybe they picked an almost dead language to communicate so that no one else would understand them.” I see Master Windu raise his eyebrows at that comment.

“That’s a good possibility, Alaney. But another question, how many of them were Separatists?” 

“I don’t know. Mardan Sensa seemed to be the leader, though. Everyone else at the table listened to him.”   
“Sensa from Skako?” Ki-Adi-Mundi asks.

“Yes. I think so.” I answer.

It takes at least a full hour of this before they’re finally satisfied with the answers I’ve given them. Slowly, the council members get back to their missions and the holograms fade.

“Most disturbing are these developments.” Yoda says with a sigh. “Grave danger, you were in child. Performed well, you have.” he says to me.

“Thank you Master Yoda. May I go?” I ask.

“Go get that cut on your head taken care of.” Master Windu says to me. “Then get some rest.”   
“Yes sir.” I answer with a bow. I’m so exhausted at this point and I really don’t care about the cut on my head. I do, however, care about Obi-Wan and whether or not he’s okay. 

When I walk into the medbay, it’s dim and quiet. What time of day is it? I have no idea. Healer Agistel is sitting behind his desk and he looks up in surprise when he notices me. 

“Alaney?! What’s happened to your head? Why are you covered in blood?”   
“I’m not covered in blood. It’s just a cut. But I was told to get it taken care of. How’s Obi-Wan?”   
“Alright, he’s doing okay, yeah? Hey, good to see you by the way! You never visit me! Come on back, let’s take care of that cut.”

I follow him back and look around to see if Obi-Wan is in any of the beds.

“He’s all the way in the back, kiddo.” he says to me.

“Is that bad? Is he going to be okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah, he’ll be alright. Don’t you worry. You can see him after I get that fixed.”   
“Okay.”

Agistel is pretty good at reading me and he realizes early on that I’m not in the mood for catching up or talking at all, really. I feel kind of bad but not bad enough to make conversation. He put some sort of gel on my face and cleans of the blood that’s gathered around it.

“You’re good to go!”   
“Thank you. Can I see him? Is he awake?” 

“He woke up for a little while before. He might be sleeping now, though. Let’s go see.” I follow him into the back alcove and see Obi-Wan sleeping peacefully in the bed. He looks less pained now, which must be a good sign.

“Is he going to wake up soon?” I ask.

“Hard to say, my little friend. Could be anytime.”   
“Okay. Is it alright if I sit by him?”   
“Of course! You stay as long as you want.”   
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Really.”   
“Anything for you, kid.” 

He walks back up to his desk and I pull up a chair next to the bed. Obi-Wan’s got a sort of gown thing on and I can see a gauze pad on his chest where the guy shocked him. It feels like forever that I’m waiting here, in silence, and I remember how exhausted I am. I lean back in my chair and feel myself falling asleep.

  
  


I feel groggy and out of it when I wake up. How much time has passed? I forget where I am for a second until I hear the monitor beeping and remember I’m in the medbay. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look up to see Obi-Wan: awake. I’m flooded with relief to see him actually alive and awake. 

“Obi-Wan!” I say smiling. 

“Hey there.”   
“Are you okay?”   
“I’m fine. Thanks to you, evidently. I heard you saved my life.”

“Well, maybe a little.” I laugh. He reaches out and touches my head. 

“Are  _ you _ okay?”   
“Yeah. Totally. I really thought you were dead back there.”   
“Yeah? Tell me what happened. Step by step.”   
“They got you then they sent those guards after me. I took them out and then everyone at the table just ran away. I didn’t know what do about them. I thought about chasing them but I decided it was more important to get out of there. You were knocked out so I carried you to the ship and then we flew back here. The end.”   
“You totally saved my life, Alaney. I owe you one.”   
“No. Consider us even. You’ve saved my life too.”   
“I’m very grateful nonetheless. And proud of you.”   
“Thanks.” I say looking down at my feet. 

“Alaney.” 

“Yeah?”

“I want to apologize.”   
“What? Why? For getting knocked out?”   
“No.” he says with a chuckle. “I took your weapon from you, and I told you I would protect you, and then I left you to fend for yourself. I’m not sorry for taking it, but I’m sorry I left you defenseless.”   
“Don’t apologize, Obi-Wan. It’s not like it was your fault.”   
“Well, in a sense, it was. But you more than proved you can fight without your weapon, right?”   
“Nah. I just got lucky, that’s all.”   
“Not so. We’re going have a talk later about accepting praise, okay?”   
“Sure.” I say without bothering to contain my eye roll. 

“Go home and sleep, okay? You look tired.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask.

“Alaney, I’m fine. I think Healer Agistel’s got it covered. Go on.”   
“Okay…” I say hesitantly. I walk out and back to the desk. I’m feeling better now after talking to Obi-Wan and I have a good, long talk with Agistel. I head home and see the sunrise out the window. I have absolutely no idea what time it is, what day it is, or what’s going on in the world. I’m so tired that I don’t care, and I get into my bed ready to have a restful sleep. 


	22. Chapter 22

“Hey Ani.” 

“Hey kiddo. How was your night?”

“Good. Yours?”   
“Great.” he says chuckling. “Hey, you wanna go somewhere?”   
“Where?”   
“I dunno. But you know what I was thinking? Come here, I’ll braid your hair.” I sit down in front of him on the floor and he continues. “Do you know what I was thinking?”   
“What?”   
“Okay. Remember when me, you, and Obi-Wan were coming back from Naboo. The very first time. And you were so amazed because you were seeing all the stars and planets for the first time. And I was like, “I’ll show you all of them?”

“Yeah?” I answer.

“Let’s go see something. I feel like a shitty big brother. I haven’t taken you anywhere.”   
“Aw, don’t say that. I’m happy wherever we are.”   
He finishes my braid and spins me around.

“Let’s go somewhere.”   
“Okay. Where are we going?”   
“Have you ever seen snow?”   
“Nope. Not in real life.”   
He smiles a kind of sad smile when I say that.

“Okay. We’re going to Hoth. It’s a planet completely covered in snow. You’re gonna love it. Dress warm.”

“How long are we going?” I ask.

“We’re just going to see it.”   
“Okay!” 

In a few minutes, Anakin has rounded up some parkas and a ship and we’re off to Hoth. 

“What if someone notices we’re gone?” I ask.

“No one will notice. We’re not important. Liran isn’t going to care if you don’t show up and I don’t care if  _ I  _ don’t show up to things. We’ll be fine.”   
“True.” I answer. We talk about nothing important the entire flight, and Ani tells me stories about growing up in the jedi temple. 

“It was so weird to go from being a slave on Tatooine to a Padawan at the jedi temple. I mean, there’s not really a more different life. Well, in some ways.” 

“Awww. You were so little, right?”   
“I was like nine. So, yeah. Pretty little. It was so scary. I know it was scary for you too, but at least you’re pretty much an adult. I was just a stupid little kid. I had no idea what was going on.”

“So how did they find you? You never really told me. You just told me that they brought you here from Tatooine.”   
“Obi-Wan, his old master, Padme, R2, and Jar Jar ended up on Tatooine after their ship was partially destroyed. They needed parts. So they ended up at the shop where I was, I won this big podrace, they won me, we came back the temple, etc.”   
“That was literally the most confusing and vague story I’ve ever heard. Who is Jar Jar? How did they “win” you?”   
“Okay, okay. Qui-Gon Jinn was Obi-Wan’s master. They were dealing with all this stuff with the trade federation and they ended up on Tatooine. They had Padme with them because the queen of Naboo wanted someone to keep track of them. Sort of. Jar Jar is this Gungan from Naboo who helped with this droid army attack. When they got to Tatooine, they were looking for parts, and they ended up at the shop where I was a slave. After spending some time with me, Qui-Gon realized I was strong with the force and he thought I should become a jedi. Problem was, I was a slave and he couldn’t just take me with him. He bet with my master that if I won a podrace he could free me and take me back to the temple. I won the podrace, he freed me, and we went back to Naboo. Then a bunch of other stuff happened, Qui-Gon was killed, and Obi-Wan became my master when we got to Coruscant.”   
“I have so many questions. First, what is a gungan? Second, what is a podrace? Third, how did Qui-Gon get killed?”   
“The gungans are this species from Naboo. They’re like...amphibians. But they can talk and stuff. Jar Jar is here now, on Coruscant. He’s a Junior Representative in the Senate. A podrace is this super dangerous race we used to do on Tatooine. It’s a death trap. You build a pod and race like ten or so other people around a dangerous track and try not to crash or get blown up.”   
“You won that? At nine years old?”   
“Yup! Only human to ever race one successfully. Anyway, this guy was cheating and almost beat me but I ended up winning. And Qui-Gon was killed by a Sith lord named Darth Maul.”   
“Is he still alive?”   
“No. Obi-Wan killed him right after he killed Qui-Gon.”   
“Obi-Wan killed a Sith?!”   
“Yes. That’s why he was granted the rank of Master. And then he started training me.”   
“Wow.”   
“What?”

“There’s a lot I didn’t know about you. And him.”

“Well, you know how Obi-Wan is. He’s too modest to talk about things like that. He doesn’t know how to brag.”   
“Yeah…” I trail off.

“Any other questions?”   
“No. Wait, yeah. What was it like for you when you started training?”   
“Oh man. It wasn’t good at first. I missed my mom so much. And I thought Obi-Wan hated me. He was just doing his best to face his new life, but I didn’t get that. He was angry and sad all the time because his master was dead but you know, me being nine I didn’t really understand that. We got off to a bit of a rocky start. Oh, and I was kind of bitter because Qui-Gon was the one who cared about bringing me back. Obi-Wan was more apprehensive.”   
“So when did you guys start getting along?”

“Well.” Anakin looks pensive for a second. “We still have issues. As you’ve seen. But after a few months we kind of gained each other’s trust and things got better.” 

“That is some transition.”

“What? Slave to jedi? Yeah.”   
“You had so much reason to be pissed at the world.”   
“What do you mean?”   
“So many bad things happened to you. And you still turned out to be a good person. You could’ve ended up being angry and bitter but you didn’t.”

“You think so?”   
“Yeah. I think about that a lot. But that was before I knew this stuff too. Now it’s even more impressive I guess.”   
“Thanks Laney. But it’s not entirely true.”

“What isn’t?”   
“I’m not such a good person. I’ve done bad things. I was going down a darker path a while ago.”   
“What do you mean?”   
He sighs. “Master Yoda has always said that my future was cloudy, dark, hard to read, whatever. I think he thought I would turn to the dark side eventually. Like, a year before you were here, I was getting really dark and depressed. I don’t know what was going on. Sometimes the past just catches up to you all at once, you know?”   
“Yeah.”   
“But anyway, I managed to get through it, mostly, and then I met you, and you were my family, and now I never feel that way anymore. So don’t be impressed by me. It’s just the way things go. And you’ve helped me a lot.”   
“You’re still a really good person. With or without me helping you.”   
“Thank you. It means the most coming from you.”   
“Really?”   
“Of course. Who else’s opinion  _ really _ matters? You’re my family. I’m trying to make a good life for you. If you think I’m a good person, then I must be doing a good job.”   
“You always say that. Obviously you’re doing a good job.”

“It’s nice to hear.”   
We’re quiet for a minute and Ani’s face looks content.

“Ani?”   
“What?”   
“Thanks for telling me all that stuff. I like to hear things about your past.”   
“Anytime. There’s plenty to hear about. I got enough stories to last a lifetime.”   
“I bet.”   
“I wouldn’t mind hearing a few of your stories, either. How about you tell me one?”   
“A random story on command? That’s a lot of pressure.”   
He laughs. “No it’s not. Tell me a story about dad, then.”   
“Okay. Let me think. I’ll tell you one when we get to Hoth.”

“Deal.”

I think hard about a good story to tell him. He knows nothing about dad, really. Aside from the little bits I’ve told him. When we get to Hoth, I still got nothing. We land on a big rock and I gaze down at the planet.

“Oh my god!” I yell.

“What?” Ani asks.

“That’s all snow!”   
“Yeah, that’s all snow.”   
“Let’s go!” I scream as I run out of the ship.

“Alaney, a coat!” Anakin yells after me. I can’t wait a second longer and I run out and jump head first into the snow. It’s fluffy and white as anything and freezing cold and wet and dry at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Ani appears a second later wearing one coat and holding another. 

“Put this on!” he says smiling. I do, reluctantly, and then return to jumping in the snow.

“It’s cool, right?” he asks.

“It’s so white. Oh my god, it’s awesome. It’s like ice, but soft.”   
He’s cracking up watching me play in the snow for the first time. I roll around in it and throw it up in the air. I look over at him and he’s casually eating a chunk of it.

“What the hell?” I ask.

“What?”   
“You can  _ eat  _ it?”

“It’s just water. Go ahead.”   
I pick up a chunk of fluffy snow and taste it. 

“Wow. It is just water, but it’s like super fresh water.”   
“Generally the water from the sky is super fresh.” I glare at him and hurl a snowball at his head.

“Hey!” he yells, and before I know it, we’re having a full on snowball fight. We jump around, gathering snowballs and hurtling them at each other for a long time, before I’m sweating under my coat. I throw it off and go back to throwing them. He hits me right in the face and I run after him. He’s fast, but slower in the snow and I’m able to catch up with him. I jump at his back and manage to tackle him. 

“Ha! I win!” I say as I straddle him.

“Why is knocking me over the qualification for winning?”   
“Cause it is. Say I win.”   
“You win.” Satisfied, I get off of him and stand back up. Before I make it all the way up he pulls my arm and flips me over, causing me to land face first in the snow. 

“Ow! Damnit!” I yell as I turn over.

“Who’s the winner now, Laney?” He easily pushes me down with one hand and laughs as I try to get up. 

“Fine. It’s a tie.”   
“Okay. I can live with that.” 

We play in the snow a while longer, each building separate things out of it and then crushing them. I start shivering when we’re done and I remember I took my coat off at least twenty minutes ago. 

“Laney, let’s go. Your lips are blue.”    
“Noooooo.” I whine.

“Come on. You’re gonna get frostbite.”   
“Wait. What happens if you hit snow with a lightsaber?”   
He rolls his eyes and sighs at me. “Okay, do it. Then we’re leaving.”   
I whip out my saber and ignite it before gently brushing it against the snow. It evaporates and I hit it harder.

“Cool.” The glow of the blue crystal shines especially beautifully against the snow. It looks so cool with the bright white behind it. 

“Come on!” Ani calls, pulling me out of my trance.

He grabs my coat out of the snow and we go inside the ship. 

“Dude, your lips are blue, you’re shivering, and soaking wet. Go get changed.”   
My teeth are chattering loudly and I can’t help but smile. “But the snow is so fun!”   
“Yeah, but dying of hypothermia isn’t.”   
“Fair point.” He closes the airlock and I go into the back room to get changed. Once I’m dry, I grab a blanket off one of the cots and head back up to the cockpit.

“Better?” I ask.

“Yeah. But you still look kind of blue.” 

“Whatever. That was so much fun. Snow is the best thing ever. Compared to rain? And sand? And grass? Who wouldn’t want to play in snow all day?”   
“I know! It’s a lot of fun. Did you like going here?”   
“I loved it. Good choice. This is my new favorite place.”   
“Great. I’m glad you did. Are we ready to go?”   
“Wait! I wanna bring some home.”   
“What? Alaney, no. It’ll just melt.”   
“I’ll put it in a templock container! Please?”   
“Fiiiiiine.”   
“Yes!” I throw my blanket off and grab a templock box from the shelf. I open the airlock and jump reach down to fill the box. I take one last look at the beautiful, shimmering, landscape and close the door again. 

The seal of the container makes a loud  _ click _ and I bring it back up with me. 

“Happy now?” he asks.

“Yes. Thank you.”   
“Now. A story. I think I’ve earned one.”   
“You have. A story. Okay.” I wrack my brain again and finally decide on one to tell him.    
“Okay. I was trying to pick one that showed the most what dad was like. I’ve got one. So, I was about ten years old when this happened. Dad was out on the town, trading with someone, and I decided I was going to hike up this really steep hill behind our house. Me and him would hike up it all the time, but it was like, really steep, so you needed to do it with two people. For stability. But I was ten so I thought I could do it by myself. So I start heading up, at first it’s just grass and you walk up it but after about a mile it’s jagged rocks and you have to climb it using whatever foot and handholds you can find.”   
“Wait, where was this hill?”   
“Behind the house.”   
“Why didn’t I see it?”   
“I don’t know. You weren’t looking, I guess. You probably saw it when you crash landed.”   
“Okay, okay. Continue.” 

“So I’m climbing up the hill, and it starts getting to the rocky part. And I’m like pshh, this is easy. And I make it up maybe twenty feet before my left foot slips, I completely lose my grip, and go tumbling down. The way I landed was just completely on my right arm, hand outstretched. So aside from cutting my face, I completely broke my shoulder and collarbone. And I’m just rolling down this hill, screaming and crying, until I finally stop rolling and I’m just lying there. My shoulder was broken so bad I really couldn’t move so I just basically stayed there and cried for a few hours. Fast forward to four hours later, when dad gets home. I was scared out of my mind because I thought he was going to be so pissed at me.”   
“For falling?”   
“Well, for going up the hill when I wasn’t supposed to. Anyway, he comes home and starts yelling for me because I’m not in the house but I’m too scared to yell back so after a few minutes he just finds me there. He takes one look at me and just says, “Next time, try  _ holding on _ to the mountain, okay kid?” and he picked me up and carried me inside.”   
“So he wasn’t pissed?”   
“No. He wasn’t mad at all. He probably just thought I was an idiot. But Dad was really good with medicine and healing and things like that. He looked at my arm and he decided he wasn’t going to trek me into town to see a healer because he could do it himself. He mixed some kind of medicine and numbed my arm and then set it back into place. Look.” I pull my clothes away from my shoulder and show him the scar from it.

“Woah. I never noticed that before.”   
“Yeah. So after it was set my arm was in a sling for a while. Like a month probably. But Dad was not about to let me laze around just cause my shoulder was broken. He wanted me to keep up the farm work while he was in town. Problem was, to get to the farm, you had to climb down this ladder to get there because it was like thirty feet lower than the house.”   
“Okay, there is so much of this area around the house that I haven’t seen.”   
“Yeah. It’s like a maze. There’s a bunch of random areas. But he decided that he would build this kind of like...ski lift? Is that what it’s called? It was basically this little bench that was built onto a track and there was a little controller that would take me up and down. So I didn’t have to use the ladder.” I sigh and pause. “And that’s just the kind of man he was. Compassionate as anything, but he never let me forget the value of hard work. He taught me to enjoy it. I never got mad at him for making me work so hard because everything we did had a purpose.”   
“I wish I could’ve met him.” Ani says sadly.

“I know. You guys would’ve liked each other.”   
“Did he ever talk about me?”   
“Only occasionally. I think he always felt responsible for what happened to you. And he didn’t want me to ask about you or mom. It made him feel like...weak, I guess.”   
“But it’s not like it was his fault.”   
“Well, yeah, but he felt like it was. He had to blame someone, and it wasn’t going to be me. He put it on himself because he had no one else.”   
“Well, that was a great story. Despite your shoulder being broken.”   
“Yeah, what a time. I did make it up that hill alone. Eventually.”

“When?”   
“Probably like four years later. I couldn’t do anything with that bum arm for a long time.”   
“I want to see more of the house.”   
“Well, I want to go back to Naboo. Let’s go there next time.”   
“Deal. See, there’s plenty of your life I don’t know about.”   
“Now you know more.”    
“I want to know more about after he died. What was that like?”   
This strikes a nerve in me for some reason.

“I don’t want to talk about that. Not now.” He sees that this upsets me and he stops.   
“Okay. Sorry. We don’t have to talk about anything else.” He turns on some music on the radio and we fly home in peaceful silence. We learned so much about each other on this trip.

I’m so lucky to have him as a brother. 


	23. Chapter 23

***Alaney’s POV***

When Anakin and I get back, Obi-Wan is still out. I grab my snow container and start to leave the ship.

“Uh, Laney.” Anakin calls.   
“What?”   
“Hide your snow. That’s not really a normal thing to be walking around the temple with.”   
“Right.” 

I tuck it under my robe and we walk back home. After we’ve been home for a few hours, just lounging around and watching tv, Ani’s comlink starts buzzing.

“It’s Obi-Wan.” he says. “Thank god my signal will be coming from Coruscant. Hello?” he says as he accepts the call.

“Anakin. I’m on my way home. How’s everything going?”   
“Fine.”   
“Are you sure?”   
“Yes? Why wouldn’t everything be fine?”   
“Alright, I’m just checking. I’ll see you in a while.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Bye.”   
“Bye.”   
Anakin rolls his eyes and I laugh. “Why are you so annoyed when you talk to him?” I ask.

“I’m not. He just always does that. Always thinks I’m up to something.”   
“Well. We  _ were _ up to something.”   
“Uh-huh. Sure. I’m gonna sleep for a while.”   
“Okay. I’m going on a walk.”   
“Where?”   
“I don’t know. Around.”   
“Don’t go anywhere sketchy.”   
“You sound like Obi-Wan.”   
“Fine. Go wherever you want.”   
He does actually seem a little pissed so I leave. Coruscant is a pretty cool place to walk around, actually. I mean, it is a city, and it’s kind of scuzzy in some parts, but there’s lots of interesting stuff to see. I walk through a market and it reminds me of the trading on Naboo. There’s just so much  _ stuff  _ from different parts of the galaxy. I play with a little fluffy animal for a few minutes and then put it back into the pen full of twenty other little fluffy animals. I look at more stuff around the market before leaving and walking a few blocks north. I’ve been walking for maybe half an hour when I suddenly get a sense that I’m being followed. It’s not a strong sense, but every time I turn around I can swear I see shadows darting out of my vision. I apprehensively walk further and try to shake the feeling. The farther I get from the market, the less people there are on the street and I come to the conclusion that there can’t be anyone following me. There’s practically no one around. 

I feel more uneasy so I start to turn around and head home. When I do, I’m faced with two guys dressed in leather and rags.

Shit. Never ignore your gut feelings.

I turn back around and there’s two more of them. 

“You Skywalker?” One of them asks.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“Are you Skywalker?!” he asks more aggressively. 

“Fuck off.” I say as I attempt to push past them.

“Oh yeah. That’s definitely a Skywalker.” he says to one of his other goons.

“Who the hell are you? Why do you know me?” I ask.

“You? I don’t give two shits about you. I know your brother. He’s causing problems.”   
“What did he do?”   
“He gambled with the wrong people. He owes me 800 credits.”   
“Shit.” I say quietly. This idiot brother of mine…

“No kidding. He’s been hiding inside that stupid temple for two weeks now. I would go in there and whoop his ass but it’s too guarded. So now we’ve been following you.”   
“ _ I _ didn’t cheat you. What do you want from me? To pay off my brother’s debt?”   
“Well, that would be nice. But I’m assuming you don’t have that kind of money on hand.”   
“Not really.”

“We figured instead we would send a little message to your brother.”   
“A message? Sure. What do you want me to tell him?”   
“No.  _ You’re  _ going to be the message.”

I eye him suspiciously and the other guys start coming closer.

“We’re gonna make an example out of you. Give you a beating your brother won’t be able to ignore.”

“Seriously? Fuck you. Deal with him yourself. Don’t go through me.”

I should’ve seen it coming but I don’t. The main asshole punches me right in the jaw and I stagger backwards into another one of them. It’s not like I haven’t fought off this many people before, but it’s a disadvantage when they get the first hit. I’m not about to take out my saber and kill these guys. I think I could get arrested for that. I’ll just have to fight them off. Hand-to-hand. Like Liran taught me.

I manage a solid kick at one of them right to the gut and he falls over moaning. Two of them behind me hold my arms back and I lose my upper hand again. The main guy comes up to my face real close and I can practically smell his anger. He steps back and slams his fist into my right eye. 

I yell in pain and fury and break free of the two guys holding me. I lunge at the main guy and slam my fist into his neck. I hear him coughing and choking and turn around to deal with the other two. They try to come at me from both sides so I do a roundhouse kick to one before spinning around and hitting the final guy in the chest. The first guy I took out is back on his feet, unexpectedly, and he kicks me in the shin before I see it coming. I ignore the stabbing pain it brings and give him another kick, this time to the face. The four of them are on the ground now, two practically unconscious and two moaning in pain. 

“Don’t ever fuck with me again. Next time, I swear, I will kill you.” I say before spitting blood at the leader. I walk away quickly, before anyone can see or before any of them get up. I have to limp because of the shin and I feel my face to determine how bad it is. There’s blood oozing out of my mouth that I have to keep spitting out and I’m pretty sure one of my teeth is broken. I definitely have a nasty black eye forming too. 

Those assholes. 

I don’t know if I’m more pissed at them or Anakin for being an idiot and gambling. I manage to sneak into the temple unnoticed, thankfully, and storm home to yell at Ani. I open the door and see that he’s napping on the couch.

“Hey jackass!” I yell. “Wake up!”

He opens his eyes slowly and then jumps when he sees my face. 

“What the hell?!” he exclaims.

“What the hell to you! You messed with some fucking death gang?! Losing money and then not paying your debt? How stupid are you?” I’m getting more pissed by the second and really screaming at him.

“Oh, shit! They found  _ you _ ? I’ve been trying to avoid them. I shouldn’t have let you go out.”   
“Seriously, Anakin? Did you really think “trying to avoid” a GANG that you owe 800 CREDITS to would work? What is wrong with you? Those jerks would’ve killed me if I had given them the chance.”   
“I know, I’m sorry! I was avoiding them while I tried to figure out how to pay them back. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? How many of them were there?”   
“Four. Four assholes who thought it was a good idea to make an example out of me. They thought it would encourage you to pay them back.”   
“So what happened?”   
“What does it look like happened?!” I say as I shove him. “I had to fight off four people by myself who all wanted me dead! You jerk! They said they’ve been following me for days. Some creeps you decided to mess with!”   
“Jesus, okay! I’m sorry! I know I screwed up. I swear, I’m gonna figure it out. I’m gonna pay them back and teach them not to mess with my sister.”   
“Oh, fuck that. I already beat the shit out of them. They’re not gonna mess with  _ me _ ever again. But they’re probably going to  _ kill _ you if you don’t figure this shit out.”   
“Fuck.” he says as he sits down again. “Alaney, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t think they would go this far.”   
I can’t hold onto anger longer and I feel it starting to fade as I see how defeated he looks. “I know.” I answer, sitting down next to him. “Just figure it out soon. Before they do something else stupid.”   
“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to go to the healer?”   
“No! I’m fine. It’s fine. I-” I stop when I hear footsteps outside the door.

“Shit! It’s Obi-Wan. He called a few minutes ago saying he was almost back. Go! Go clean the blood off you face!”   
“What about the black eye?!” 

“I’ll make something up! Go!”   
I jump off the couch and sprint into my room, feeling a sharp stab in my shin as I do so. I frantically wipe the blood off my mouth and chin, but my eye looks awful. Hopefully Anakin makes up something believable. 

“Hey Obi-Wan.” I hear him say. He sounds nervous and he hasn’t even started lying yet.

“Hello Anakin. How are you? Everything good here while I was gone?”   
“Oh, yeah. Same old, same old. How was your trip?”   
“Fine. Nothing exciting.”

“Oh? Nothing. That’s too bad.”   
Oh my god, he is such a bad liar. This isn’t good. He’s gonna fuck this up.

“Where’s Alaney?” I hear Obi-Wan ask.

“Alaney? Where is Alaney. She is in her room. Yes.”   
“Why are you acting weird?”   
“What? I’m not acting weird.”   
“Yes you are. What are you hiding?”   
“Nothing! Nothing. Nothing is being hidden.”   
There’s a pause before I hear Obi-Wan say, “Alaney? Come out here.” in a much louder voice. Ah, shit. Anakin screwed us both. There’s new blood on my face anyway. This is useless. I hesitantly open the door and step into the living room. Obi-Wan takes one look at me before his face turns into a very angry expression.

“What in the blazes happened to you?!?” he asks. I say nothing and look at Anakin. He looks panicked and shrugs his shoulders as to what to I should say. I look back at Obi-Wan who is waiting impatiently for a response. 

Alright. I’m going to take the fall for my brother.

“I got in a fight. I was being stupid.” I say to Obi-Wan.

“What? No.” Anakin interrupts. “No she didn’t. It’s my fault. She’s covering for me.”   
“No, I’m not. It’s my fault.”   
“Stop, Laney! I did something bad and it affected you. It’s my fault.”   
“You’re lying. Stop covering for  _ me _ .”   
“Both of you, stop!” Obi-Wan yells. “Stop covering for each other and tell me the truth! Now.”   
I look at Anakin and gives me a stern nod. “ _ Don’t bother. I’m gonna tell him the full story.”  _ he sends to me.

“It’s my fault.” Anakin says to Obi-Wan. “I did screw up. I gambled some money away and then I couldn’t pay it back. So I hid from the gang who was after me. Then Laney went out on a walk, they found her, and attacked her. It’s completely my fault.”   
Obi-Wan looks back and forth between us with suspicion. 

“And this is the truth? Honestly the truth?”   
“Yes sir.” I answer.

He walks over to Anakin and I think he’s going to sit down next to him. Instead, he smacks him upside the head.

“What is the matter with you?” he asks.

“I know it was stupid. I wasn’t just ignoring them, I was trying to figure out how to pay them back.”   
“And you’ve waited long enough that they would go after your sister?!”

“Apparently!”

“What made you think going out to the casinos of Coruscant and GAMBLING was a good idea?”

“I was being stupid. I’m sorry, I really am.”   
“You’re reckless! I thought I could trust you for a few days. But could I? No! I come home to this! Your sister gets beaten up and you’re in debt to, to some gang?!”

“I didn’t mean for it spiral like this! Please, Obi-Wan. Believe me, I didn’t want any of this to happen. It was just a stupid mistake.” Obi-Wan sighs heavily before turning to me.   
“Are you alright?” he asks me.

“Yeah.” I answer.

“You’re still bleeding. How long ago was this?”   
“I dunno. An hour now?” 

“Sounds about right.” Anakin answers.

“An hour later and your mouth is still bleeding? Did you put a medpack on it?

“Yeah.”   
“Go to the healer. That’s not a superficial wound.”   
“Obi-Wan, it’s fine.”   
“No, it’s not. Go. Right now.” He’s not having it but neither am I.

“No. It’s fine.”   
He glares at me but thankfully turns back to Anakin.

“You need to figure out what you’re going to do before you get yourself in deeper trouble.” he says sternly. 

“I know. I’m going to figure it out, I swear Obi-Wan. I feel so bad about what happened to Laney.”   
“As well you should. This isn’t some little screw up. If she wasn’t, well, as tough as she is, they could’ve killed her. You think about that. I’ll be back.” He stops talking and walks over to me. Without a warning, he grabs me by the shoulder and starts dragging me out of the room.

“We’re going to the healer. Save it, I don’t want to hear any more complaints right now.”   
“Why am I the one getting yelled at? I was attacked!”

“Because you’re the one being stubborn.” I try to pull away but Obi-Wan can be  _ very _ strong when he’s angry. I look back at Anakin and he shrugs his shoulder and mouths, “sorry” to me. Obi-Wan tightens his grip and I turn back around and follow him. Once we’re outside, I stop walking so he’ll let go.

“Okay, Obi-Wan. I’m coming. You don’t have to drag me.”   
He releases me and stops walking as well.

“Alright, can you go then? So I can deal with Anakin right now?”   
“Okay.”   
He grabs my shoulder again. Jeez. He’s never this aggressive.

“Promise me you’re going straight to the healer and nowhere else.”   
“I promise.”

“Good. Then you come right back here, understood?”   
“Yes sir.”   
He nods and lets go of me. “Go on.” I walk away from him and hear the door open and close. I really, really don’t want to go see Healer Agistel right now, but I’ve never seen Obi-Wan this pissed off.

I walk slowly toward the medbay but when I do get there I see that it’s empty.

“Healer?” I call out. “Healer Agistel?” 

Nothing. “Hello?” 

Still nothing. I wait for five minutes, then ten, then twenty, but he’s nowhere in sight. I sigh in annoyance and head back home. Obi-Wan and Anakin are sitting at the table when I come in.

“He wasn’t there.” I say quickly.

“He wasn’t there?” Obi-Wan sounds no less pissed off. “Is that a lie? I swear, if you’re lying to me right now…”   
“No! I’m not lying. I waited there for some time and he still wasn’t there.”

He looks mad but not suspicious. 

“Fine. I’ll deal with that in a second. Anakin, does this all make sense?”   
“Yes, Master.”   
“Good. Then go. Get this sorted out as quickly as possible. Don’t let anyone see you.”

“What’s the plan?” I ask. 

“I’ll tell you when I get back.” Anakin stands up abruptly and starts to leave. He stops in front of me and gives me a hug. “I’m sorry for what I caused. I love you, Laney.”   
“Don’t worry about it. Good luck.” He nods and leaves without another word. 

“You. Sit down.” Obi-Wan says to me. Why the hell is he so pissed at  _ me _ ? I sit down at the table and he pulls out his comlink.

He dials something and I realize he’s calling the Healer. After about twenty seconds, it’s clear no one is going to answer. 

“Where the hell is he?” Obi-Wan says to himself. 

“Obi-Wan?” I ask quietly.

“What?”

“My mouth isn’t bleeding anymore.” 

“Let me see.”

The cut is in a weird spot but I open my mouth so he can try to see it.

He looks at it and then puts his head in his hands. 

“Okay. You’re fine, right?”   
“I am. I swear.”   
“Okay. Just put some ice on your eye. Does it hurt a lot? Do you need some medicine?”   
“Nope. I’m really okay.”   
“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was just, well I  _ am _ really mad at Anakin. I’m sorry.”   
“I know. I was too.”

“And you’re not now?”

“No.”   
“Even though he’s the reason you got hurt?”   
“Yeah. It’s not like he knew this would happen. He never would’ve done it if he knew it would hurt me.”   
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But it was still irresponsible.”   
“Definitely. But I figured me staying mad wasn’t going to help anything.”   
“You’re wise beyond your years, Alaney.” He gets up to get ice and brings it over to me. I take it and gently hold it against my tender eye.

“So, how was your trip?” I ask, trying to diffuse his lingering anger.

“It was pleasant. Nothing too eventful.”   
“How’s Naboo?”   
“Beautiful as always. We’ll go soon, okay?”   
“Cool.”   
“How was your weekend? Did you two get into any trouble besides this?” He has a cheerful glint in his eye and I can tell he’s less mad.

“No. Just this.” Now I feel like shit thinking about our little trip to Hoth. No need to mention that now. Or ever. 

“Good girl. I knew I didn’t need to worry about you. You know how to take care of yourself.”   
“Well, yeah. Did it for years.”   
He nods. I don’t know what else to say so I get up to go sit on the couch. I lie down and turn the tv on, hoping to distract from this situation. 

“Can I take the ice off now?” I ask.

“No. A few more minutes.” I zone out and start watching an episode of  _ Galaxy Racers _ . Obi-Wan walks over to the couch after the episode is over and takes the ice off my eye.

“Any better?” he asks.

“Yeah. Somewhat.”   
“So Alaney, you fought off four grown men by yourself?”

“Yep.”   
“Then I was wrong about Liran. He’s obviously taught you well.”   
“Yeah. He’s a good man. Hey Obi-Wan?”   
“Yes?”   
“Okay, I was just wondering this. Like, I didn’t do it. But if those guys attacked me and I had like...killed them...would I get arrested?”   
“No. Legally, that’s self defense. But ethically, well, you did the right thing just fighting them off. You should only kill if the alternative is being killed.”   
“Oh. Okay.”

“Does that make sense?”   
“Yeah. I just thought I would go to jail or something.”   
“For defending yourself?”   
“Yeah...I don’t know.”   
“It’s alright. Put it out of your mind if it’s bothering you. You did well.”   
I go back watching  _ Galaxy Racers _ and it does take my mind off of it. After a few episodes, I really start to wonder what Anakin is doing to sort all this out. Obi-Wan is next to me on the couch on his little tablet as usual.

“When’s Ani going to be back?” I ask him.   
“I don’t know. I hope soon. If he didn’t do anything else wrong.”   
“Aw, come on. Don’t be so hard on him.”

“I’m not being hard on him unreasonably. He screwed up. It’s nice that you don’t feel the need to be mad at him, but he needs to know he has to be accountable for his actions.”   
“He knows that. Everybody makes mistakes.”   
“I know that. But it’s my responsibility to make sure he rights his wrongs.”   
“Why?”   
“Why? What do you mean why? Who else is going to do it?”   
“Him.”   
“He’s still young. He still needs guidance.”   
“Maybe you think he needs more than he does. He’s pretty capable.”

“Our relationship is complicated. It’s not just me being hard on him. I know you’re always going to be on his side because he’s your brother, but he’s not always right. We’ve both been harsh to each other. There’s a lot of history between us that you haven’t experienced.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I pause. “I shouldn’t have overstepped.”   
“It’s okay. It’s not like you haven’t witnessed us fighting. We don’t really try to be secretive about our arguments.”

“Yeah, but still. It’s not my place.”

“It’s not  _ not _ your place. You live here too.”

I shrug and look out the window. I’m actually exhausted as hell, and I kind of doze off for what feels like only a few minutes. My watch tells me twenty and I force my eyes back open.

“Is Ani back?” I ask Obi-Wan sleepily. He looks over at me and pats my arm. 

“He’ll be back soon. Why don’t you go sleep for some time?” he suggests. “You must be tired.”   
“No. I gotta make sure he gets back first.” I answer. I make myself sit up but I’m now in that state of sleepiness where I’m basically half-unconscious. My eyes start closing again and lean against Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Through the force I feel him welcome this gesture and I can tell he’s not his usual rigid self tonight. I slip deeper into sleep and before I know it I’m out. 

I wake up again a little while later, still feeling very groggy. This waking up and falling asleep repeatedly is making me super confused. Something woke me up. What was it? A noise? I look up and see none other than Anakin Skywalker standing in front of the door. That’s what it was! The door!

“Ani!” I yell as I jump off the couch. “You’re not dead!” I basically jump onto him and hug him and he stumbles backward a little. 

“No, I’m not dead. Why so little faith in me?”

“No. I just-”   
“How did it go, Anakin?” Obi-Wan interrupts.

“It was fine. Everything’s worked out?”   
“Really?”   
“Yes, really.”   
“Did you follow the plan?”   
“Wellllllll.” he says slowly. “I follow  _ a _ plan. It’s fine. Seriously, it’s all fine. No one is in danger anymore, no one is in debt.”   
“Alright. I’m trusting that you did all of this in a ethically sound manner?”   
“Yes. Laney, those guys were scared shitless of you.”   
“Really?”

“Uh, yeah. They even seemed scared of me. Saw the nice broken nose you gave Farron. He said to me, “Let’s just never see each other again. I don’t want to mess with that maniac of a sister you got.”

“Damn right!” I exclaim. 

“Yup. I told them not to worry. I wouldn’t send you after them unless they really pissed me off.”   
“ _ Anakin _ !” Obi-Wan protests. I laugh and step away from him. I am so happy to see him alive. This idiot brother of mine might be reckless, but I wouldn’t have him any other way. 

“Alaney, why don’t you go to sleep now?” Obi-Wan asks.

“I was going to...but now I’d rather hang out with him.” I say with a point in Ani’s direction. 

“Alaney, come on. You look tired. Go to bed.” He sounds tired himself and I decide I can push him.    
“In a while.”   
“Alaney…”    
“Obi-Wan…” I taunt. 

“Go to bed.” 

“You sound pretty tired yourself. Maybe  _ you _ should go to bed.” Anakin laughs and shakes his head. 

“You know, maybe I will. If I stick around here, I’m just going to get more backtalk. And  _ sass _ .” I roll my eyes and Obi-Wan gets up to leave. He gives me a friendly, yet somewhat annoyed smack on the head and I know he’s not mad.

Ani and I stay up for a while, just talking and messing around. 

“Are you tired?” he asks me later on. 

“Yeah. You?”   
“Yeah. Let’s go to sleep. Laney, wait.” he says as I get up.

“What?”   
“Are you sure you’re not mad at me for...well...everything?” he asks.

“I’m not mad.”   
“You  _ sure _ ?”   
“I’m sure, Ani. Don’t give it another thought.”   
He looks at me kind of slyly but stops asking. We both get up and head toward our respective rooms.

“Night, Laney.”

“Night.”   
I get in changed and get into bed ready to finally sleep. I drift off quickly, but something wakes me up shortly after I fall asleep. I open my eyes and look around the dark room. I see and sense nothing, but  _ something _ made me wake up. I sit up and wave the light on with my hand. Nothing.

I open the door and walk into the living room. Everything is dark, quiet, and still. I look out the window and even the city seems subdued. I go back to bed feeling a little on edge but I’m tired enough that I can fall back asleep. 

 

Suddenly, I find myself falling into the bottom of a deep pit. There’s jagged rocks everywhere and I barely manage to avoid landing on one. All I can see is a person with their back to me. He, I think, is wearing a long black robe. He doesn’t move so I walk toward him. As I get closer, I feel a growing sense of dread. As I’m about to touch him, he turns around and hits me with powerful force lightning. I can’t make out his face and the jolt knocks me unconcious. 

 

I wake up gasping for air. I’m drenched in sweat and I can feel my heart beating out of my chest. That nightmare felt so real it was bone-chilling. Everything was so vivid, so realistic. Every emotion felt like I was really there, scared for my life.

Who was that man?

Why did he want to kill me? 

I try to go back to sleep after this, but it’s tossing and turning. That dream left me too disturbed to actually feel peaceful enough to sleep. 

There was something incredibly eerie about that man, and I can’t figure out what it was. Something just vaguely  _ familiar  _ about him. It’s past 4am when I have this nightmare, and it’s not until 6:00 that I really fall back asleep. Even when I do, I’m uneasy and not completely asleep. Every time I close my eyes he’s there. 

 

So close to seeing his face but it’s just out of my reach. 


End file.
